Southeast Asia Film & Cinema: Online Resources

Access the University of Hawai'i, Mānoa database of Asia Pacific Films.  Requires UH login.

ARTstor is a digital library of nearly one million images in the areas of art, architecture, the humanities, and social sciences with a set of tools to view, present, and manage images for research and pedagogical purposes.

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The Asian Film Archive was founded in January 2005 as a non-governmental organisation to preserve the rich film heritage of Singapore and Asian Cinema, to encourage scholarly research on film, and to promote a wider critical appreciation of this art form.

The Bophana Center acquires film, television, photography and sound archives on Cambodia from all around the world and gives free public access to this precious heritage. For Cambodians, it opens the door to large swathes of memory. Since it opened on December 4, 2006, over 240,000 people have (re)discovered these documents in Phnom Penh and throughout the country. For teachers, students, researchers or journalists, it is an exceptional documentary database. Currently, nearly 700 hours of video are available, including: the first movies of the Lumière brothers in the late nineteenth century; recent fictions by Cambodian directors; TV coverage; nonprofit movies; documentaries; Norodom Sihanouk’s movies; etc. Meanwhile, hundreds of archives are being organized and indexed.

British Pathé is a dynamic cross-media company and a market leader in the licensing of footage to the broadcast industry. The company is a major supplier to production companies, museums and advertisers worldwide.

• Southeast Asia Video Clips
• Brunei Video Clips
• Cambodia Video Clips
• Indonesia Video Clips
• Laos Video Clips
• Malaysia Video Clips
• Myanmar Video Clips
• Philippines Video Clips
• Singapore Video Clips
• Thailand Video Clips
• Viet Nam Video Clips

The Cambodia Film Commission aims to make filming in Cambodia as straight-forward a process as possible. As a first point of contact for filming in Cambodia, the CFC offers free comprehensive services to all kinds of production (feature films, TV programs, commercials, documentaries, institutional films, karaokes…), in order to facilitate the work of film crew.

DocNet Southeast Asia is initiated and coordinated by the Goethe-Institut and funded by the EuropeAid programme “Investing in People“. The programme aims to support documentary filmmaking in Southeast Asia and to professionalize and unite varied local initiatives to make the missing voice of the region heard.

DocNet Southeast Asia addresses independent documentary film makers, producers, film schools, TV stations and other relevant stakeholders and aims to create adequate conditions for the documentary film scene. By organising various events, the project aims to promote networking within and outside of the region, to raise awareness for documentaries from Southeast Asia and to create a market which will give new talents from the region a professional perspective.

Dili Film Works is based in Timor Leste (East Timor). It is Timor Leste’s first film & television production company to receive finance for a feature film, and to have its short films accepted into an international film festival. Dili Film Work’s mission is to establish a sustainable film & television industry in the fledgling nation.

Kyoto University's Center for Southeast Asian Studies will initiate a three year Visual Documentary Project that explicitly examines the contours of their everyday lives through a visual approach. The documentary is one of the most potent forms of media to capture the everyday nuances of social life. This project aims to use visual forms of expression to complement the growing literature that exists on Southeast Asian societies. The above framework will offer three separate but interrelated themes that deal with “plural co-existence” in the region.

Film & Television Literature Index is the definitive index to film and television literature. It is a bibliographic database that provides cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for more than 300 publications, and selected coverage of 300 more. The database has been designed for use by a diverse audience that includes film scholars, college students, and general viewers.

Access the University of Hawai'i, Mānoa database of Films On Demand.  Requires UH login.

The Film Development Council of the Philippines is the government-backed lead agency for film in the Philippines ensuring that the economic, cultural and educational aspects of film are effectively represented at home and abroad.

The Southeast Asia Movie Theater Project is a photographic archive of stand-alone movie theaters in Southeast Asia.  Whether operating, abandoned, or repurposed, here their images have been compiled and displayed for the public record.  To submit your own Southeast Asian movie theater photos, write to: sea.theater@hotmail.com

Click here to view videos posted to YouTube in the Thai Film Archives.

Viddsee traveled around Asia to hand-pick the best short films, and here are the good, the classic and the unforgettable.

Want to learn more about what's new in Southeast Asian Cinema? Check out these regional film festivals and research conferences. 

• Association for Southeast Asian Cinemas Conference

• Cinemalya: Philippine Independent Film Festival

• Hawai'i International Film Festival

• Luang Prabang Film Festival

• Vientianale International Film Festival