The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever

Feb 25 2025 35 ep. 41 mins 5
The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever Podcast artwork

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever features experts and enthusiasts and, well, their favorite films of every year ever. Host Tristan Ettleman sits down with a new guest every week to dive into the history and beauty of some of the best movies to ever come out of the cinematic medium.

  TV & Film
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1903 E7 - Editing and Otherwise

Feb 25 2025 6 mins  
While one particular film was explored in-depth this season, every guest (whether they selected The Great Train Robbery or not) explored lesser known or at least lesser appreciated arenas of cinema in 1903. The myth busting, amateur spotlighting, and spectacle showcasing elements of this season's conversations make the case for the expansion of the art form in this calendar year, w

1903 E6 - Colin Williamson

Feb 18 2025 58 mins  
Colin Williamson, Assistant Professor in Cinema Studies at University of Oregon, has wide-ranging interests, including animation, special effects, and media archaeology. With these angles and more in mind, he brings a unique perspective and some myth busting to his standout films of 1903.Colin is the author of Hidden in Plain Sight: An Archaeology of Magic and the Cinema and the fo

1903 E5 - Rob Stone

Feb 11 2025 42 mins  
Film archivist and historian Rob Stone has always been interested in silent film. With his five picks, he charts evolving storytelling capabilities in the medium’s earliest days and the darker side of the fading actuality, mostly as represented by one filmmaker!Rob’s publishing company Split Reel specializes in books and other media highlighting lesser-known aspects of the ente

1903 E4 - Jay Weissberg

Feb 04 2025 71 mins  
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 year

1903 E3 - Bruce Calvert

Jan 28 2025 42 mins  
Silent film historian Bruce Calvert has been collecting silent film memorabilia for 30 years, showcased on his site The Silent Film Still Archive. He shares his story of how he came to develop this interest and addresses how supporting materials can help us understand how incomplete, missing, and even fully surviving movies were made, seen, and received.Bruce is also a moderator of

1903 E2 - Neil Brand

Jan 21 2025 72 mins  
Neil Brand has been a silent film accompanist for nearly 40 years. He shares his musical expertise, which also includes composing new scores for silent film re-releases, while exploring exciting threads of fantasy, comedy, and violence in his five picks.Neil regularly plays at the Barbican and BFI National Film Theatres in London and film festivals around the world. His scores incl

1903 E1 - The Great Film Robberies

Jan 14 2025 4 mins  
The law (at least in America) had a significant effect on the development of film genres, aesthetics, production, and viewing practices from 1903 on. The world over, tightly run studios were becoming more and more prevalent, shifting story films further and further into the spotlight, and dedicated filmviewing spaces were cropping up. It's difficult to define any one calendar year

1902 E7 - From the Streets to the Studio

Jan 01 2025 5 mins  
It's not like the established actuality suddenly evaporated in 1902, but as guests have pointed out throughout this season, a diversification of film topics, aesthetics, and technology fostered new genres and production styles. In this season finale, Tristan briefly summarizes the common threads of his conversations and puts together the most selected 1902 films.Films mentioned:The

1902 E6 - Tamara Shvediuk and Federico Striuli

Dec 25 2024 63 mins  
Tristan welcomes two guests to one episode for the first time: the husband-and-wife film historian, archivist, and curator duo of Tamara Shvediuk and Federico Striuli. The pair showcase spectacle with their five picks, from the féerie to chronicles of a significant political change.Tamara has curated film programs for several events, including the Moscow International Festival of

1902 E5 - Vanessa Toulmin

Dec 17 2024 65 mins  
Vanessa Toulmin, Chair in Early Film and Popular Entertainment at the University of Sheffield, is an expert on variety theater, circus, travelling exhibitions, fairgrounds, and other aspects of the history of show business. She brings this expertise to her five picks from 1902, ranging from her vast experience with the Mitchell & Kenyon films to an intriguing connection between