Research Guides: Slavic and East European Film Collection at Harvard: Welcome!

Slavic and East European Cinema in Harvard collections

Fragment of: Messenger boy, directed by Karen Shakhnazarov (Sovexportfilm, ([1986?] flier). Soviet film abroad : ephemera, 1974-1989.

Harvard offers access to over 3000 Slavic-language films on DVD, videocassette, and film print. These include live-action feature-length films as well as shorts, animated films, documentaries, and material that was originally televised, as well as recordings of musical and dance performances, poetry readings, campus presentations, etc. The collection also contains a number of English-language and other documentaries focusing on the culture and history of various parts of Eastern Europe. Particularly extensive are the collections pertaining to Russia, Poland, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, and former Yugoslavia – but there are also holdings in Albanian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Slovak and Baltic languages.

This research guide contains the following:

A list of strategies for searching/browsing for Slavic/East European films in Harvard’s online library catalog HOLLIS (Finding Slavic/EE Films in the Library Catalog) as well as gaining access to these films outside Harvard (Beyond Harvard, Film Screenings and Related Events).
A note on the libraries where Slavic films at Harvard are physically held, and the access/borrowing restrictions that may apply in each case (Locating Physical Copies at Harvard).
The list of salient reference sources pertaining to each geographical/language area (Resources by Region) as well as general resources on the cinema of Eastern Europe (General Resources).
A complete 2015 inventory of Slavic films currently held at Harvard presented as a downloadable Excel document (The Film List).