How to Cite a Movie in MLA Style | Format & Examples
To cite a film in MLA, include the title, the director, any other relevant contributors, the production or distribution company, and the year of release. If there are multiple versions of a film, you also need to identify the version.
To cite a movie from Netflix (and similar online streaming services), add the name of the website or app (e.g. “Netflix app”). If you watched the movie on an unofficial website or video-sharing platform like YouTube, add the website name, the uploader, the date of upload, and the URL.
In the in-text citation, include the title (or a shortened version of it) and the time range.
(Night 18:25–40)
MLA movie citation format
You build an MLA Works Cited entry by filling in the relevant elements. An MLA citation usually starts with the author’s name, but because films are created by many different people, you start the citation with the film’s title instead. The director appears after the title as a contributor.
Other contributors
If relevant, you can also add other contributors, as with TV shows. For example, if your paper mentions specific performances, you can include the actors in your citation; if you discuss the film’s visuals, you can include the cinematographer.
Identify the role of each contributor and separate them with commas.
If your discussion of the movie focuses mainly on one contributor (e.g. the director or a performer), you can choose to include that name at the start of the citation instead, where the author would normally go.
In this case, make sure to use the same name in your in-text citation.
Versions
If there are different versions of a film, you need to state which one you used so the reader can find the correct source (e.g. extended version, director’s cut).
If this version was released later than the original, you can also add the year of the original release after the title. This is optional, but it is often helpful to give the historical context of the source.
Publishers
Films are often produced and distributed by several different companies, which can make it difficult to determine the publisher.
Try to identify the organization that had primary responsibility for the movie’s production or distribution. If multiple production companies and/or distributors were equally involved, you can separate them with a forward slash.
Citing online movies
If you stream a film on an official distribution platform like Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video, you can choose to add information about the platform to the Works Cited entry if you think it’s relevant.
If the film was republished on a website unconnected to the producers or official distributors (such as YouTube, where anyone can upload a copy of a movie), you should generally include this information in the citation.
After giving full details of the movie, add the name of the website, the uploader, the date it was published, and the URL.
Note that this format only applies to full movies uploaded to YouTube. If you are citing a clip or other material on YouTube, follow the format for citing a YouTube video instead.
MLA in-text citations for movies
The in-text citation must always correspond with the first word of the Works Cited entry. For movie citations, this is usually the title in italics. If the title is longer than a few words, shorten it to the first word or phrase.
Instead of a page number, add the time range of the part you are quoting or referring to.
If you have already mentioned the title in the sentence, the parenthetical citation only needs to include the time range.
If you are referring to the movie as a whole, it is acceptable to mention only the title with no time range.
If you start the Works Cited entry with the name of a contributor, make sure to use this name in the in-text citation so that the reader can easily locate it in the alphabetized list.
16 comments
Tanya
August 23, 2021 at 7:30 PMHi,
I am comparing two film adaptations of the same novel. The films have the same title. How do I distinguish them when I do in-text citations?
Thank you!
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
August 30, 2021 at 1:36 PMHi Tanya,
MLA suggests that in cases like this you should add another piece of information from the full Works Cited entry to distinguish between the two sources. In your case I would suggest adding either the release year or the director's last name for each film. This information should be added in square brackets after the title, e.g. (Dracula [2006]).
Hümeyra
May 16, 2021 at 7:34 PMHi! I'm writing a paper about the movie The Babadook. I'm referencing a lot of scenes from the movie. Should I write the movie title in parantheses every time I'm citing the time intervals or only write the time stamps after the first reference? Thank you in advance!
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
May 17, 2021 at 10:19 PMHi Hümeyra,
It's best to keep your citations as concise as possible by omitting the movie title in subsequent references. However, make sure it's clear what you're referencing when you do so; if you cite anything else in between, or if you've gone several paragraphs without citing the movie, you should repeat the title to avoid confusion.
Elena
June 7, 2021 at 7:46 AMHi! I'm doing my mini-research paper based on two movies. Is it necessary to have the movie scripts with me, or is it alright to just cite the movies with the necessary description in the Works Cited page?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
June 7, 2021 at 5:10 PMHi Elena,
You should always cite the version of a source that you're using. So if you referred to the scripts, you would cite those, in whatever context you found them. If you just refer directly to the movies, then you should just cite the movies themselves in whatever context you viewed them.
Uzochi Anaele
April 25, 2021 at 11:29 PMIn my essay, I want to reference two points of the same movie. Could I do that in the same in-text citation or is that wrong?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
April 27, 2021 at 3:19 PMHi Uzochi,
MLA does allow you to do this if both different parts are discussed in the same paragraph and there are no other sources mentioned in the same paragraph that could make this approach confusing. In those cases, you can just include one citation at the end of the paragraph that includes both relevant timestamps, e.g. (Smith 11:15, 29:35).
If the two moments are discussed more separately, it's best to just include a separate citation for each one.
Maurice Knowles
March 14, 2021 at 8:38 AMWhat if the movie is considred a secondary source (documentary about the essay's topic) and not a primary source (i.e. referring too the cinematography)
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
March 15, 2021 at 2:12 PMHi Maurice,
Whether a source is treated as primary or secondary doesn't make a difference in terms of how you format the citation in MLA style. You can cite a documentary in the same way as any other movie.
Mel
February 12, 2021 at 8:59 PMHello,
I'm writing an essay on The Talented Mr. Ripley. For the in-text citation, would I put (The Talented)?
In the paper, I go on to talk about the cinematography, score, set, and costuming. When talking about a specific shot, would I say, for example, "The first mirror shot occurs when Tom Ripley first impersonates the couple (cinematographer's last name, duration of shot)"? And when I mention the wardrobe, would I say, "The clothes worn by the characters in the second half of the film are dark, contrasting the clothing in the first half of the film (last names of costume designers)"? Then once I go back to referring to the film as a whole, would I once again state (The Talented)?
I was also considering citing the score separately in the "works cited" list, since I'll be devoting an entire paragraph to it. Does this sound reasonable, or should the score be part of the film citation? And if so, would it go something like, "The theme is heard in the moments leading up to Dickie's murder (Rabinowitz, duration of the theme)"? It feels especially complicated since the actual album on Spotify has "various artists" listed as the artist, instead of the composer for the one theme I'll be referring to.
Hope this all helps, and thanks for the great article!
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
February 17, 2021 at 4:03 PMHi Mel,
Good questions! MLA's advice for abbreviating titles is to shorten them to the main noun phrase, and omit articles like "a" or "the." Since The Talented Mr. Ripley consists entirely of a noun phrase, you'd just omit "The"; your abbreviation would be (Talented Mr. Ripley).
In general, you only want to refer to each source with one form of in-text citation, based on the first element listed in your Works Cited. So in your case, since you refer to various different contributors, I'd say it's best to make your Works Cited entry start with the title of the film, listing the relevant contributors afterwards, and just keep your in-text citations using the shortened title. You can of course mention the names of the cinematographer, costume designers, etc. in the text if you want to highlight them.
With the score, I think it is reasonable to list it separately if you discuss it specifically. If you just refer to that particular piece from the score, you can always just list that in your Works Cited rather than the full score (to avoid the "various artists" confusion). See the guidance here on how to do this.
D
November 30, 2020 at 5:42 AMI am writing a paper on Frozen as it is animated i am referring to the animated characters how do i cite in the paper.
when i refer to the character ie: Anna ( Kristen Bell) do i continue to add her name in parentheses every time i writer he name in my paper?
Shona McCombes (Scribbr Team)
December 10, 2020 at 7:28 PMHi,
No, it's not necessary to specify the actor or cite the source every time you use a character's name, as long as it's completely clear which source you are referring to. You should include an in-text citation when quoting directly from the movie – see this MLA blog for more information. Hope that helps!
Janina
August 12, 2020 at 12:22 PMHello,
I am writing my Thesis and analyzing two film adaptations of a Shakespeare play. If I quote from that, should I rather use the film or the original text as source?
Thank you very much,
Best, Janina
Shona McCombes (Scribbr Team)
September 16, 2020 at 4:10 PMHi Janina,
If you're analyzing the film, cite the film as your source. If you refer to the text of the play directly at any point (for example, to compare differences between the original text and the film script), cite the play as your source. As a rule, you should always cite the version of the source that you're directly using and analyzing.
Hope that helps!