UK launches 'Google for films'
2009-01-28 11:10
Mike Collett-White
London - Fancy checking out the classic
1960s Japanese horror flick Onibaba, or indulging in a bit of
old-fashioned British comedy with The Lavender Hill Mob?
The UK Film Council is launching a search engine that will
help British movie goers track down their favourite films, from
the mainstream to the obscure.
The website, www.FindAnyFilm.com is free to use and
contains records of more than 30 000 films, or roughly seven
years' worth of viewing, and they come in 20 genres and over 60
languages.
"Like a Google for films, it is the first time anything like
this has been delivered on the internet that indexes all
available films in the UK and is totally free to use," the
council said in a statement.
The site tells visitors how they can watch the movie of
their choice, whether at the cinema, on television, DVD,
Blu-ray, online or by downloading it from legal websites.
One aim of the site is to crack down on illegal downloads,
which have been the thorn in the side of the music industry for
years.
In the case of Onibaba, about a widow and mother-in-law who
survive by murdering passing Samurai and selling their armour
for rice, it is available on DVD from several major retailers,
and the site can take you to the relevant page to buy it.
FindAnyFilm.com also has an "alert me" function which tells
the visitor when the movie becomes available on television, at
the cinema or on the internet.
"This new site is going to transform how consumers find the
films they want to watch. We will soon wonder how we ever coped
without it!" said Peter Buckingham, head of distribution and
exhibition at the UK Film Council who pioneered the site.
Searches can be refined by inputting a mood, a location or
using keywords like "fairytale ending".
Check out the website here.
- Reuters