The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever

Pordenone Silent Film Festival director Jay Weissberg has facilitated an array of programs that expand the canonical ideas about what was made in the silent era and what can be appreciated now. With his picks (which he stretches a bit past five with two more must-sees), he showcases international, amateur, and aesthetic ambitions in 1903.

Jay also worked as a film critic for 18 years with Variety and contributes essays for a host of festivals, retrospective catalogues, and international publications with a particular focus on contemporary Arab cinema. Among his published works as a film historian are essays on the American films of Albert Capellani and Balzac in silent cinema.

Films and resources mentioned:

• Blackpool North Pier (1903) - Mitchell & Kenyon
• The Tarantella from ‘Napoli’ (1903) - Peter Elfelt
• He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (1903) - Wallace McCutcheon
• Mary Jane’s Mishap (1903) - George Albert Smith
• Familie Neubronner geht spazieren (1903) - Julius Neubronner
• The Kingdom of the Fairies (1903) - Georges Méliès
• The Execution (1903) - Peter Elfelt
• Move On (1903) - Alfred C. Abadie
• Anna Held (1901) - Frederick S. Armitage
• The Great Ziegfeld (1936) - Robert Z. Leonard
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• Alice in Wonderland (1903) - Cecil Hepworth
• Life of an American Fireman (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• The Finish of Bridget McKeen (1901) - Edwin S. Porter
• A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès
• Conclave (2024) - Edward Berger
• The Slave (1917) - William Nigh
• London After Midnight (1927) - Tod Browning
• Beyond the Rocks (1922) - Sam Wood
• A Pictorial History of the Silent Screen - Daniel Blum
• Cinema’s First Nasty Women