Film and Media Studies 

If you want to show a copyrighted film in a public setting, you will need to contact one of these companies to obtain permission. Start with Swank.

What are Public Performance Rights (PPR)?
Copyrighted films (and this is most of them) are not automatically licensed for public performance (this means showing a movie/film in a dorm, auditorium, or any other kind of public space).  The only legal exception to this rule is if an instructor shows the video/dvd in a classroom and that the activity is for teaching (aka: face-to-face teaching).  For more information, visit the sites listed below.

Do the JHU Libraries purchase films with Public Performance Rights?
Due to the extra cost and the fact that we are an academic institution, the Library usually does not purchase films with PPR.  Some publishers and distributors (e.g., Films for the Humanities, Film Movement) do make PPR available free of charge so these films may be shown anywhere/anytime, but this is the exception rather than the rule.

Finding Library Holdings with PPR

Films for which the library acquired Public Performance Rights (PPR) have notes stating public performance rights granted.

So, to find videos that the library owns that include PPR, search public performance rights granted as general keywords in the online catalog.  You may also add other keywords to your search to find materials on a particular topic of by a particular filmmaker.

Many vendors of educational videos/DVDs sell institutional versions of titles that automatically come with public performance rights. All titles purchased from the following vendors are institutional versions that come with public performance rights:

• Ambrose Video
  Phone:  (800) 526-4663 
  E-Mail:  ambrosevideo.com
• Annenberg Media
  Phone: 800-LEARNER
  E-Mail: info@learner.org
• Bullfrog Films, Inc.
  Phone: (800) 543-FROG
  E-Mail:  video@bullfrogfilms.com
• California Newsreel
  Phone:  (877) 811-7495
  E-mail:  contact@newsreel.org
• Cinema Guild
  Phone: (800) 723-5522, (212) 685-6242
  E-Mail: thecinemag@aol.com
• Clearvue & SVE(a subsidiary of Discovery School)
  Phone:  (800) 253-2788 or 1-773-775-9433
  E-Mail: clearvue_service@discovery.com
• Direct Cinema Ltd.
  Phone: (800) 525-0000, (310) 636-8200
  E-Mail: info@directcinemalimited.com
• Discovery School (subsidiary of Discovery Education; owns Aims Multimedia / Clearvue & SVE)
  Phone: (877) 900-8830
  E-mail: www.customersupport.discovery.com
• Docurama  (a subsidiary of New Video Group, Inc.)
  Phone: (800) 314-8822
• Fanlight Productions  
  Phone: (800) 937-4113
  E-Mail:" info@fanlight.com
• Films for the Humanities & Sciences
  Phone: (800) 257-5126, (609) 275-1400
  E-mail: custserv@filmsmediagroup.com
• Frameline
  Phone:  (415) 703-8650  x305
  E-Mail:  distribution@frameline.org  
• John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Library Video Classic Project
  Phone: (312) 726-8000
  E-mail: 4answers@macfound.org
• Schlessinger Media
  Phone: (800) 843-3620
  E-mail:  lynn@libraryvideo.com
• Weston Woods
  Phone: (800) 243-5020
• Women Make Movies
  Phone: (212) 925-0606
  E-mail: distdept@wmm.com

Other vendors not listed above may offer public performance licensing, but you will need to contact them in order to verify. The Media Resources Center of the University of California at Berkeley has compiled a helpful list with their Video Distributor Database.

FYI: A recently obtained license dated September 18, 2003, for a one-time showing of the films Ordinary People and A Beautiful Mind cost $331.00 per film for a total cost of $662.00.

Film & Media Studies

Link to the Hopkins academic program's web page.