Dating Films

[Li Hoo Cheong]

The two ways adopted for dating films are:

1) Use the copyright date (BFI)

2) Use the first date of commercial release (A. Gerow)

Normally, the first date of commercial release would be 
domestic release, but some recent Japanese films may be
released overseas before their release in Japan.  A film
may be screened in a film festival overseas and bought by
some foreign distributors who release it prior to its
premiere in Japan.  While the date of domestic release is
often documented, the date of foreign release is harder to
trace.  Hence, it seems that the copyright
date is more precise and practical.

For comparison, the practice of dating a book can be examined.
Library cataloguer dates a book by tracing its publication
date on the title page, and then on the verso of the title 
page if no date appears on the title page.  If no publication
date appears on the verso of the title page, the copyright date
on that page is taken as the date of publication, and noted as
c1998, if that distinction needs to be spelled out.  
If the copyright date is different from the publication
date, both dates can be noted: 1999, c1998.  For Japanese books,
the dates often appear at the back of the book on the colophon page.

With books, there are other complications like different editions
and different impressions (printing) not exactly applicable to films.
Different editions are clearly indicated, e.g., 1st ed., 2nd rev. ed.
etc., and a different printing can either be ignored or noted.  If
noted, the dates would be: 1998, 1999 printing.

After hearing several opinions, I think that the copyright date
should be preferred.  My question is: do all films carry a 
copyright date at the end of the film?  Who assigns the 
copyright date? The producer or the licensing/censorship
office?

H. C. Li