Film & Video Collections
- Black Art: In the Absence of Light (DIr. Sam Pollard, 2021)
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At the heart of this feature documentary is the groundbreaking “Two Centuries of Black American Art” exhibition curated by the late African American artist and scholar David Driskell in 1976. Held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, this pioneering exhibit featured more than 200 works of art by 63 artists and cemented the essential contributions of Black artists in America in the 19th and 20th centuries. - The Cool School: The Story of the Ferus Art Gallery (Dir. Morgan Neville, 2008)
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An abject lesson in how to build an art scene from scratch and what to avoid in the process. The film focuses on the seminal Ferus Gallery, which groomed the LA art scene from a loose band of idealistic beatniks into a coterie of competitive, often brilliant artists, including Ed Kienholz, Ed Ruscha, Craig Kauffman, Wallace Berman, Ed Moses and Robert Irwin. - Eames: The Architect and The Painter (Dir. Jason Cohn, Bill Jersey, 2011)
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Design history was born in a cavernous warehouse on a gritty street in Venice Beach, California, where Charles and Ray Eames set up their Renaissance-style studio in the optimistic flush of American victory during World War II. Jason Cohn and Bill Jersey's definitive cinematic foray into the world of the Eames is the first film to be made about Charles and Ray since their deaths - and the only one that peers deeply inside the link between their artistic collaboration and sometimes tortured love for one another. - Ed Ruscha: 4 Decades: An American Pop Artist (Dir. Michael Blackwood, 2004)
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Ed Ruscha first worked in a commercial art studio before he began creating pop art based on the illusionist side of surrealism. Curator Margit Rowell visits Los Angeles artist Ed Ruscha in his studio to view new work and discuss his progress over the last four decades, and invites him to comment on many milestones in his large retrospective exhibition at MoCA in Los Angeles. - Fertile ground: Stories from the Watts Towers Arts Center (Dir. S. Pearl Sharp, 2005)Instructional Media Library Stacks DVD ID9375
Documentary stories from the Watts Towers Arts Center which records the 40 plus year history of the Center. - Judy Chicago & the California Girls (Dir. Judith Dancoff, 2009)Arts Library Closed Stacks Audio-Visual Media ; N6537.C48 J8 2009
Through discourse, debate and experimental theater sketches, women students confront Judy Chicago's radical views of sexuality and feminism in this cinema-verite about the Feminist Art Program at Fresno State College. - L8s Ang3les (Dir. Steven Kochones, 2009)
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L8S ANG3LES celebrates the breadth of contemporary photography through works by eight renowned photographers whose images capture the complexity and vitality of Los Angeles. - Levitated Mass: The Story of Michael Heizer's Monolithic Sculpture (Dir. Doug Pray, 2013)
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When pioneering land artist Michael Heizer finds the giant boulder he's been searching for since 1968, it sets off an epic struggle to realize one of America's newest and largest public artworks, 'Levitated Mass.' The 340-ton rock's journey from a desert quarry to its perch atop Heizer's gigantic, walled slot in the earth at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) attracted international media and challenged the imagination of thousands as it crawled 105 miles through 22 cities on a football field-length, 206-wheeled trailer. - Los Angeles Plays Itself: A Cinematic History of Los Angeles (Dir. Thom Andersen, 2004)
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From its distinctive neighborhoods to its striking architectural homes, Los Angeles has been the backdrop to countless movies. In this dazzling work, Andersen takes viewers on a whirlwind tour through the metropolis' real and cinematic history, spanning nearly 100 years, from the silent era to modern times. Like a detective in pursuit of an elusive adversary, Andersen investigates the myriad stories and legends that have come to define this ‘dream factory.' With extensive research, and an abundance of clips, anecdotes and analysis, he adroitly peels back layers of fiction to reveal the real city and the actual lives of its denizens beneath the glaring lights. - Mur Murs (Dir. Agnès Varda, 1981)Instructional Media Library Stacks DVD ; ID9753
Mur murs: Documentary focusing on some of the many murals found in the Los Angeles, California area. Includes comments by some of the muralists. The walls of the capital of talking pictures talk, reflecting the voices of its multicultural inhabitants. Most of the walls have since been destroyed and live on today only in this film. - Stuffed (Dir. Erin Derham, 2019)
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Told through the eyes and hands of acclaimed artists across the world, STUFFED explores the surprising world of taxidermy, where sculptors must also be scientists. From a studio in Los Angeles that has elevated taxidermy to the forefront of fashion, to fine artists in the Netherlands, these passionate experts push creative boundaries while revealing the importance of preserving nature. - Vaginal Davis: An Interview (Video Data Bank, 2013)
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In this interview, American artist, independent curator, writer, and experimental filmmaker, Vaginal Davis reflects on her initiation into the punk rock and art scenes of Los Angeles during the 1980s and 90s, her stylistic influences, and her ongoing efforts to theorize queerness and visuality. Caught between the opposing poles of Hollywood classicism and the rawness of punk, Davis defines her unapologetically gender-bending, campy, and at times aggressively critical performances as scenarios, rather than spectacles or entertainment. - W.A.R.!: Women Art Revolution (Dir. Lynn Hershman Leeson, 2010)This documentary details major developments in women’s art of the 1970s, including the first feminist art education programs, political organizations and protests, alternative art spaces such as the A.I.R. Gallery and Franklin Furnace in New York and the Los Angeles Women’s Building, publications such as Chrysalis and Heresies, and landmark exhibitions, performances, and installations of public art that changed the entire direction of art.
- What is Minimalism: The American Perspective 1958-1968 (Dir. Michael Blackwood, 2005)
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A documentary that provides answers, featuring the exhibit, A Minimal Future? Art as Object 1958-1968 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles with the participation of Carl Andre, John Chamberlain, Robert Irwin, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Brice Marden, Robert Morris, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Ryman, Tony Smith and Frank Stella. - Womanhouse: Feminist Art in the 1970s (Dir. Johanna Demetrakas, 1974)
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A historic documentary about one of the most important feminist cultural events of the 1970s. Judy Chicago (best-known as the creator of THE DINNER PARTY) and Miriam Shapiro rented an old Hollywood mansion and altered its interior through decor and set-pieces to "search out and reveal the female experience…the dreams and fantasies of women as they sewed, cooked, washed and ironed away their lives."
- Art21 VideosArt21 provides unparalleled access to the artist’s voice to diverse audiences around the world, using the power of digital media to introduce millions of people to contemporary art and artists. Some Art21 videos also available on Kanopy.
- Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) Educational Streaming Site This link opens in a new window
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EAI's Educational Streaming Site is a subscription-access layer of the EAI Online Catalogue. Full-length streaming videos are available for selected artists, with an emphasis on video and media art, performance art, and experimental film. Artists and titles are added on an ongoing basis. The campus subscription to Electronic Arts Intermix was initially funded for the campus by the generous support of the UCLA Art Department. - Kanopy This link opens in a new window
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On-demand streaming video service for educational institutions with thousands of documentaries, training films and theatrical releases across diverse subjects and disciplines. More information on Kanopy access and use is available on this guide.
- LUXLUX is an international arts agency for the support and promotion of artists’ moving image practice and the ideas that surround it. LUX exists to provide access to, and develop audiences for, artists' moving image work; to provide professional development support for artists working with the moving image; and to contribute to and develop discourse around practice.
- UbuWebUbuWeb is a large web-based educational resource for avant-garde material available on the internet, founded in 1996 by poet Kenneth Goldsmith.
- Video Data BankFounded at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 1976 at the inception of the media arts movement, Video Data Bank (VDB) is a leading resource in the United States for video by and about contemporary artists. The VDB’s collection has grown to include the work of more than 600 artists and 6,000 video art titles.
UCLA's central resource for the collection and maintenance of instructional media. The collection includes several thousand videotapes, laserdiscs, DVDs, and other media as well as selected department, media lab, and study center collections.
IMCS is funded for instructional on-campus use. Although most holdings are also listed in UC Library Search, researchers can search the more up to date IMCS catalog available directly from their website. Students must use these videos on site at the Instructional Media Lab, although some are available for streaming via course reserves.
- IMCS Access FAQsIncludes information about placing material on reserve, requesting online access, etc.
- Media Viewing LabHours and access to the IMCS lab viewing space.
- Instructional Improvement Mini-Grants for InstructorsMini-grants are provided by the Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT) for small-scale projects which improve or enrich existing courses, including media titles. An individual faculty member's total requests may not exceed $600 per academic year. Teaching assistants are eligible for up to $250/year.
- Requesting Online Access to MaterialsInstructors may request to have their class reserve videos encoded and linked to their course web page via a digital link. They will be accessible only to students enrolled in the class in question and only after logging into the UCLA VPN.
The UCLA Film & Television Archive holds over 350,000 motion pictures and 170,000 television programs, spanning the entire course of film and broadcasting history. The collection includes independent and studio-produced shorts and feature films, documentaries, local and network TV programming, commercials, news and public affairs broadcasts, LGBTQIA media, and 27 million feet of newsreels produced between 1919 and 1971.
Not all of the Archive's holdings are listed in the public catalog, so contacting the Archive Research and Study Center directly about holdings and access is recommended.
- UCLA Film & Television Archive Catalog This link opens in a new windowMotion pictures (silent era, classic Hollywood, independent cinema, LGBT collections, documentaries and newsreels, animated cartoons, foreign and contemporary American films), television (American telecasting from 1945 to date), and news and public affairs programs (1950 to date).
- UCLA Film & Television Archive Research and Study CenterIncludes help on using the Archive's catalog and arranging research viewing appointments at Powell Library (when in-person operations resume).
- UCLA Film & Television Archive: Explore CollectionsIncludes help on using the Archive's catalog, as well as profiles of major collections by topic.
- UCLA Film & Television Archive Online CollectionsIncludes KTLA news footage documenting local history, the LGBTQIA series In the Life, selected L.A. Rebellion and UCLA student films, and more.
- UCLA Film & Television Archive YouTube ChannelSelected streaming video from the Archive's collections and about the Archives work.
- Hearst Metrotone News Collection (UCLA Film & Television Archive) This link opens in a new windowNewsreels from the UCLA Film & Television Archive. In cooperation with the UCLA Film & Television Archive, the Packard Humanities Institute is developing this website as part of a joint project to make the Hearst newsreel collection more easily accessible to the public. Includes newsreels shown in theatres from 1929 to 1967.
UCLA Film & Television Archive’s News and Public Affairs (NAPA) Collection consists of over 100,000 news programs and broadcasts taped off air from 1979 to 2003. This collection is separate from the Archive's main collection (which also includes news and public affairs programs). NAPA broadcasts are searchable in a separate catalog, distinct from the Archive's main catalog. For more information, visit the Archive's NAPA webpage.
- UCLA Film & Television Archive News and Public Affairs (NAPA) CollectionConsists of over 100,000 news programs and broadcasts taped off air from 1979 to 2003. Titles from the collection can be made available for research viewing on the UCLA campus in the Instructional Media Lab (IML), located in room 270 of the Powell Library. Viewing requests must be made in advance through the Archive Research and Study Center (ARSC).