Film Reference Library

The Film Reference Library (FRL) is Canada’s film research collection located on the 4th floor of TIFF Bell Lightbox, a cultural centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The library is affiliated to International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF), to promote Canadian and global film scholarship by collecting, preserving, and providing access to a comprehensive collection of film prints, and film-related reference resources including books, periodicals, scripts, research files, movies, press kits.

The Library assumed operation of the Ontario Film Institute in 1990, when the Province of Ontario selected the Library to be guardian of its film-related holdings and continue the dedicated work of Gerald Pratley, founder of the OFI, by collecting and preserving materials indispensable to film education, production and research.

[2] The library contains 60,000 film research files, which include presskits, photographs, and clippings, 20,000 book titles, 13,000 film, 2000 film scripts, 700 magazine and journal titles, 80 Special Collections, and a large and varied selection of other research materials, including 300,000 images, 11,000 posters, 6000 soundtracks and television titles.

[3][4] The Film Reference Library houses over 80 Special Collections that illuminate the history of Canadian cinema.