How to cite and reference films

Ah, the tricky work of correctly APA citing films! It was only when writing a recent post that I realised that I hadn't written an entry on how to formulate the reference for movies. These are reasonably simple, but finding the information takes a bit of time. We usually need IMDB or Wikipedia in order to find all the required components.

Further, the APA 7th edition publication manual will help (American Psychological Association, 2019). We consult the Reference Examples chapter, and find - right at the beginning of the Audiovisual Works section, the entry for film or video (American Psychological Association, 2019).

With films, the director becomes the 'author'; but if we don't know the author, we need to find someone in a similar role; someone leading the enterprise. We could use writers, producers, interviewees, presenters or executive producers (American Psychological Association, 2019). However, we also need to keep the aim to give our reader a guide back to the source in the forefront. So keeping our reference as simple as possible will aid an optimal result. 

So let's look at the components for citing the Australian film, The Castle. I turned to Wikipedia (2025) and found the following information:

• Director: Rob Sitch
• Producer: Debra Choate
• Writers: Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Jane Kennedy, Rob Sitch
• Date: 1997
• Title: The Castle
• Production Company: Working Dog Productions

If we are going to cite the film in the theatre, my best guess for the most simple reference for the film is:

Sitch, R. (Director). (1997). The Castle [film]. Working Dog Productions.

But if I had watched the movie on DVD, then I would put "Film; DVD" in the square brackets instead. Penultimately, the citation for either version is:

(Sitch, 1997)

And lastly, a quote from the film would use an American-style time notation time notation in the brackets; i.e. 00:00:00. 

"Looks like everybody's kicked a goal" there, darl (Sitch, 1997, 18:06)!

Sam

References:

American Psychological Association (2019). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association: The official guide to APA style (7th ed.). Author.

Wikipedia. (2025). The Castle (1997 Australian Film). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Castle_(1997_Australian_film)