FAQ

What is Cinetimes?

Cinetimes is a discovery and playback platform that helps people find movies, documentaries, and cartoons to watch directly on the site through embedded players. Pages are enriched from public sources such as Wikipedia and Wikidata, and videos come from third-party platforms and reviewed sources.

Where do the videos come from?

Videos shown on Cinetimes come from external sources, for example:

  • YouTube
  • Internet Archive
  • Wikimedia Commons
  • Vimeo
  • ARTE
  • other reviewed platforms or channels

Cinetimes does not necessarily host the video files itself. The site synchronizes, organizes, and embeds videos published elsewhere.

Cinetimes may also integrate content from ARTE, a recognized public-service editorial source. Some ARTE videos may however be subject to geographic restrictions, especially in France.

Why can I watch videos directly on Cinetimes?

When a video is available, it can be played inside Cinetimes through an embedded player. This makes it possible to view the page, synopsis, cast, and availability in one place, while still relying on the original source for delivery.

Are all films on Cinetimes in the public domain?

No. Part of the catalog covers public domain works, but not all content on Cinetimes falls into that category. Depending on the case, a video may come from a third-party platform, a channel that declares it has the necessary rights, or a source connected to a public domain work.

Rights status may vary depending on the work, the source, and the country.

How does Cinetimes review sources and channels?

Cinetimes favors sources that provide clear information about rights, licensing, provenance, or publication status. For submitted channels, we require that they declare they hold the rights to the works they publish.

Cinetimes also values recognized institutional and editorial sources such as ARTE, whose editorial quality and distribution framework strengthen trust in the content offered.

Sources may be reviewed again, unsynced, or removed in the event of a credible report, a change in availability, or uncertainty about rights.

Why might a video be unavailable?

A video can become unavailable for several reasons:

  • removal at the source
  • geographic blocking
  • age restriction
  • rights or licensing changes
  • a matching issue between a video and a page
  • content under review

Because Cinetimes also depends on third-party platforms, availability can change without notice.

Why can a verification prompt appear during login, signup, or channel submission?

Cinetimes uses Cloudflare Turnstile on some forms, including login, signup, and channel submission. This verification helps reduce spam, abuse, and automated submissions.

How does Cinetimes check that a video is still available?

Cinetimes regularly checks video availability and embeddability. This helps identify removed, non-embeddable, geo-blocked, or age-restricted content more quickly.

How do recommendations work?

Cinetimes recommendations combine several approaches, including collaborative filtering, embedding-based semantic similarity, and machine-learning models. These systems help surface related films, similar titles, and more relevant discovery paths.

How can I contribute?

There are two main ways to help:

1. Submit a channel

You can suggest a channel through the dedicated page if that channel declares it holds the rights to the works it publishes.

2. Improve Wikipedia / Wikidata

You can also help directly by improving the data used by Cinetimes, for example:

  • add Commons File, Internet Archive, or YouTube identifiers to movies (list of movies without video)
  • set copyright status to public domain (P6216)
  • enrich metadata such as genre, cast, or year

How do I report a problem?

You can contact us if you notice:

  • a broken or unavailable video
  • incorrect metadata
  • a copyright issue
  • a questionable source
  • content that should be removed

How do I contact Cinetimes?

For questions, reports, or rights-related requests, contact us at [email protected].