Library Guides: Composition & Rhetoric Studies: Documentaries for media education

Sample MEF documentary

More Than a Word: Native American Representation in Sports, 2017

Media Education Foundation

Documentary films on the social, political, and cultural impact of American mass media, especially in relation to gender, race, class, health, and consumerism.

Films include,

Killing Us Softly 4
Tough Guise 2
White Like Me

MEF films, and films from other producers, are available for browsing and viewing on the Kanopy streaming platform below.

Kanopy
Kanopy is a platform for streaming films from many leading producers. These films are available on a “by request” basis. Just click the “request access” button and fill out the form to be reviewed by a librarian. You will be notified when the film has been leased for viewing, and it should be available within 3-5 working days of requesting. If the film has already been leased, it will be available for viewing by anyone during the lease period. These films are all genres - from documentaries to movies and training videos - and touch on a broad spectrum of topics. The platform features include captions, transcripts, clip/playlist creation tools, etc. In order to create playlists/clips you need to create a free account once in Kanopy. You can also add Kanopy as a Roku channel, or use the iOS or Android app.
Attention: Effective Jun 1, 2024, the library will move to a mediated model for videos requested through Kanopy. These videos will require requesting access in advance of the time of need. Please send requests for known needs as far in advance as possible to ensure access when needed. When on the Kanopy site, clicking on an unlicensed film will result in a request form being presented to the user, which can be filled out to request access. This information, including the reason for the request, will be sent to a librarian. The requestor will be notified of approval, and activation should occur within 3-5 business days of requesting. Once a video has been leased, anyone will be able to watch it for the duration of the lease (typically one year) without re-requesting it.
Changing to mediated access will allow Grasselli Library to continue to make Kanopy titles available in support of the academic curriculum, and manage streaming video costs. This change will allow us to focus library expenditures on teaching and learning purposes. For personal entertainment purposes, we encourage users to see what their public library has to offer!