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STATISTICS
NOTES TO TABLE III: ANNUAL STATISTICS OF FILMS APPEARING IN THE BRITISH
NATIONAL FILM CATALOGUE
The Catalogue records details of all films and video cassettes that may be screened
to non-theatrical i.e. non-fee paying audiences within the UK. It includes the
following classes of material:
• Non-fiction and short fiction films released in Britain, whether for hire, loan
or sale.
• Non-fiction and short fiction video cassette programmes made available for
hire or - in the case of British productions only for sale in Britain (this
category included from 1979).
• Feature films released for non-theatrical hire since 1980 (when they were
first introduced into the Catalogue).
• Television programmes made available on film or cassette for non-theatrical
release.
The following classes are excluded:
• Straight advertising films.
• Home movies: entertainment film of many types and often obscure origin
available in large quantities on 8mm.
• 8mm loop films.
• Foreign films and video cassettes offered for sale only.
• Filmstrips, slides and other non-film materials.
• Video cassettes which are available for home viewing only.
Between 1972 and 1975, the BNFC was produced in association with the British
Library's computerised MARC system. Although this worked in purely practical
terms, it proved to be more time-consuming than previous production methods,
and, by the time the decision was taken to withdraw, a considerable backlog had
built up. But this was promptly dealt with and had been cleared by the end of 1976,
but needs to be taken into account when using these statistics.
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