dating films

[silvernyc at earthlink.net]

As a filmmaker, I always assumed that the copyright date was it.  And the
copyright date is more or less the date of completion.  This does avoid
problems when, for example, there are films that are not released for
decades for political reasons (I'm thinking of several eastern european
films now) or films that were made and not recognized or screened till
years after (lets say, after the director had their big hit).  In these
cases it seems like it would be a big disservice to give the first
screening date..

I'm trying to think.  from a scholars point of view, in the publishing
world isn't it that the date of completion takes precedence over the
publishing date (although both are usually noted when there is a large
discrepancy)?

>         At the British Film Institute (and Sight and Sound magazine,
>         for example) we standardise on the date of the copyright line
>         on the film wherever possible. The advantage is that the
>         source is very clear and doesn't vary; the disadvantage is
>         you have to look at the film.
>
>         Re-copyrighted films are an annoyance :)


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Shelly Silver/silvernyc at earthlink.net