Image, poster and video policy

Documenting cinema without confusing images and facts

A poster identifies a work; a portrait identifies a person; a still or trailer adds context. Each resource should help explain the content without suggesting an undocumented connection.

This policy applies to profiles, articles and other public surfaces. Availability online, appearance in search results or MovieResort’s informational purpose does not amount to permission to use a file.

The resources we use and how we distinguish them

• Posters and material from a work: they must match the film, series or documentary and, where relevant, its version or edition.
• Portraits: they must identify the person in the profile, not somebody with a similar name or a character they portray.
• Stills and historical photographs: their source must document their provenance and connection to the subject.
• Contextual images: they illustrate a place, craft or idea. They must not be presented as an official poster, an authentic portrait or a scene from a specific film.
• Videos and trailers: they are linked or played from an authorized source; their terms are independent of those of an image.

Sources and traceability for each file

Processes can discover resources through Linkses and providers such as Wikimedia Commons, historical archives or image libraries. A discovery source does not replace the original file record or make a provider’s entire catalogue authorized material.

The administration media library provides provenance, authorship, licence, attribution, restrictions and review status for individual assets and their linked uses. Identity evidence and technical details are also retained when available.

Wikidata’s open data and visual files have separate terms: a CC0 record or metadata does not mean that a linked photograph or poster is also CC0.

Licences: permission for each asset

Selection checks the declared licence, its link and the conditions applicable to the file. Resources may be CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC0, public domain or subject to provider-specific terms; these permissions are not interchangeable.

An absent copyright notice or a “no known restrictions” statement is not treated as sufficient evidence of public-domain status. Promotional material and historical archives are not presumed to be authorized either.

A copyright licence does not necessarily cover trademarks, personality rights or privacy. Rights in a film are not the same as rights in its poster, a portrait or a video’s music. Our publication grants visitors no new licence to those materials.

Three checks before a resource is displayed

Public access requires approved states for these checks, a valid review and an authorization that has not expired. Validation may be automatic or manual: it does not mean somebody has inspected every file or guarantee that errors will never occur.

Without an eligible resource, a branded visual fallback is used instead of publishing an uncertain candidate. A rejected asset is no longer eligible for public surfaces using this check; automation must not overwrite a locked manual decision.

• Rights: review the resource’s authorization, licence and attribution information.
• Relevance and identity: check that it matches the work, person or context to which it is linked.
• Integrity: check the file and technical details to avoid damaged or inconsistent resources.

Appearing in a search is not enough

Identity verification uses evidence such as entity identifiers, related files in Wikidata, source metadata and matching titles and years. A matching name or the first search result alone is insufficient.

A photograph of a filming location must not become a film’s poster. Likewise, a generic musician photograph does not identify a particular composer. When evidence is insufficient, the profile remains without that resource.

Credits, adaptations and generated illustrations

Credits accompanying a resource provide access to its documented author, source and licence. The image licensing guide explains how to read them and where to check the original terms before reusing a file.

Resizing, compression and cropping must respect licence conditions without changing an image’s meaning. Required notices must not be removed, and accessibility alternative text must not be confused with rights attribution.

If an AI-generated illustration is used, it must be distinguished from a documentary photograph and not presented as a real portrait, authentic film still or official poster. Generating an image neither proves somebody’s identity nor automatically removes potential third-party rights.

Trailers and third-party players

Trailer review requires an official source and an authorized playback address. Embedding a video does not mean downloading it, hosting it again or owning rights to all of its content.

The YouTube player loads after an explicit visitor action and uses the privacy-enhanced domain. Activation establishes a connection to the provider, whose terms and data practices also apply; this mode does not mean a complete absence of tracking.

Further review, corrections and removal

Resource documentation may need further checks when its source changes, a restriction emerges or an incorrect association is detected. Administration records reviews and allows assets to be rejected; time-limited authorizations do not permit public use after expiry.

To report a problem, provide the MovieResort URL, identify the image or video, and include the original source link and supporting evidence. If you are a rights holder or representative, explain your relationship to the material. Do not send credentials or unnecessary personal documents.

A report starts a review, not automatic acceptance. Rights requests follow the content removal policy; identification or credit errors can also be reported through the corrections page. We do not promise a fixed resolution time.