• Who is Residence Life Cinema?
• What movies are available?
• What do we need to be able to use your program on our campus?
• Can I purchase movies from you?
• What entertainment formats do you provide?
• What exactly is a public performance?

• Why should I obey copyright law?
• Who does copyright law apply to?
• Do I need a license to show a movie for educational purposes? This activity is covered under the “Face-to-Face Teaching Exemption,” right?
• What if a source such as an equipment provider says it is okay to the exhibit movie?
• Who’s responsible if a film is shown without a license?

Who is Residence Life Cinema?

Residence Life Cinema is a division of Swank Motion Pictures, Inc.®, and provides a complete solution to help you bring the best entertainment to your students. Our products enable you to stream hit movies and TV shows on campus or bring movies and more into residence halls through a campus channel.

Residence Life Cinema offers:

• Campus entertainment via popular movies, TV shows, and your own campus-produced programs.
• Opportunities to reach your students with important messages between movies, TV shows, and your programs.
• Social, cultural, and issue-based educational programming and materials to encourage student development.

What movies are available?

As an authorized agent, we represent a large number of Hollywood studios including Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, NBC Universal and many more. We act as a liaison between your university and these studios to provide you with legal access to approximately 16,000 movie titles. We also offer TV programs, publicity, professionally written discussion guides and a short, PSA-style video series to educate students.

What do we need to be able to use your program on our campus?

Technically, it’s very simple. To stream movies and TV shows on campus, students will need a campus intranet connection. Content will play on any Apple Mac or Windows-based PC, as well as all iOS and Android-based devices. Entertainment can be accessed through a streaming portal that will allow students to choose what they want to watch.

To show movies in your residence halls, all you need is a closed-circuit campus channel. We will provide the programming and equipment to get you started. If you don’t have a campus channel, call us to find out how to get one or to learn about providing online programming to students through your campus network.

Can I purchase movies from you?

Residence Life Cinema does not "sell" feature movies and TV shows. Rather, we provide movies and include the legal copyrights necessary for you to broadcast them on your campus. To maintain student interest, most schools believe it is important to keep their program schedule fresh with new and popular movies each month.

What entertainment formats do you offer?

Currently, we offer digital streaming, closed-captioned DVDs, and digital hard drives through our Digital Media Player.

What exactly is a public performance?

A public performance is an exhibition of a movie that is shown outside of someone’s home.

Why should I obey copyright law?

Violating copyright law through unauthorized use of a movie:

Prevents those who worked hard on a film from receiving their just compensation.
Essentially robs motivation to create from authors, computer programmers, playwrights, musicians, inventors, movie producers and more.
Residence Life Cinema’s licensing fees include money paid to the entire cast and crew who worked on the film from start to finish. If these men and women do not receive this hard-earned revenue through sources like licensing fees, they may no longer invest their time, research and development costs to create new movies.

Who does copyright law apply to?

This law applies to everyone, regardless of whether admission is charged, whether the institution is commercial or nonprofit or whether a federal, state or local agency is involved.

This means colleges, universities, public schools, public libraries, daycare facilities, parks, recreation departments, summer camps, churches, private clubs, prisons, lodges, businesses and more all must properly license movies to show them publicly.

Do I need a license to show a movie for educational purposes? This activity is covered under the “Face-to-Face Teaching Exemption,” right?

It depends. Under the "Face-to-Face Teaching Exemption," copyrighted movies may be shown in a college or university setting without copyright permission only if all criteria are met:

• A teacher or instructor is present and engaged in face-to-face teaching activities.
• The institution must be an accredited, nonprofit educational institution.
• The showing takes place in a classroom setting with only the enrolled students attending.
• The movie is used as an essential part of the core, required curriculum being taught. (The instructor should be able to show how the use of the movie contributes to the overall required course study and syllabus.)
• The movie being used is a legitimate copy, not recorded from a legitimate copy or from TV.

This means the "Face-to-Face Teaching Exemption" does not apply outside the nonprofit, in-person, classroom teaching environment. It doesn't apply to movies shown online – even if they’re part of course-related activities and websites. It also doesn't apply to interactions that are not in-person - even simultaneous distance learning interactions. It doesn't apply to for-profit educational institutions either.

For specific requirements, please reference The Copyright Act of 1976, Public Law No. 94-553, 90 stat 2541: Title 17; Section 110(i), or consult your copyright attorney.

What if a source such as an equipment provider says it is okay to the exhibit movie?

All movies are sold as “home use only” and do not contain legal permission for use outside the home. You can only obtain copyright licensing directly from a licensor such as Residence Life Cinema or the studio itself, not from a third party.

Who’s responsible if a film is shown without a license?

The management of the venue or premises where the movie is shown bears the ultimate responsibility and consequences of copyright infringement. However, anyone involved with the public performance of copyrighted material could be implicated.