The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever

Tristan Ettleman

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.

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20 episodes
Updated Wednesday
Explicit

Episodes20

Newest first

Wednesday · 4 min
1914 E1 - The Great War Begins
The event that has been foreshadowed the past few seasons comes to pass in 1914: the Great War, or World War I. And while not every facet of the conversations this season relates back to the disruption of the film industry that ensued (to say nothing...
July 22 · 5 min
1913 E7 - Yes, a Milestone Year
The 1913 season introduction episode’s title was “A Milestone Year?” And indeed, the guests for these past five episodes, as well as the representation of listeners based on their submission lists, made the case that it was artistically, industrially,...
July 15 · 1 hr
1913 E6 - Charlie Keil
Charlie Keil, Professor in the Cinema Studies Institute and the Department of History at the University of Toronto, is the author of https://www.amazon.com/dp/029917364X?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback. His periodization of the...
July 8 · 42 min
1913 E5 - Paul Gagliardi
Paul Gagliardi, Teaching Associate Professor of English at Marquette University, selects almost entirely comedy shorts for his 1913 highlights, although they connect with his proto-expressionist feature pick in that they all contain morbid...
July 1 · 58 min
1913 E4 - Michael Gebert
Michael Gebert is the founder and co-moderator of https://www.nitrateville.com/, the online discussion site about vintage films of the silent era through the 1950s. Looking ahead to the advancements soon to come, his selections of almost all features...
June 24 · 46 min
1913 E3 - Julie K Allen
Julie K. Allen, professor of Comparative Arts and Letters at Brigham Young University, is the author of https://www.amazon.com/dp/1905816871?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback. So it makes sense that her selections, each from a...
June 17 · 50 min
1913 E2 - Shelley Stamp
This is the 100th episode and just two weeks past the second anniversary of The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever! It’s a special episode made even more so by Shelley Stamp, Distinguished Professor of Film & Digital Media at the University of...
June 10 · 4 min
1913 E1 - A Milestone Year?
1913 is considered by many to be a milestone year in the development of film grammar and industry. And it perhaps is, as is set up by this context-setting introduction and the conversations with guests to come for this season! Visit...
June 3 · 5 min
1912 E7 - The Ol' Power Players Hang in There
Although the 1912 season introduction asserted that “Hollywood was incoming,” the top picks for the year (fueled by a record number of submissions from guests!) is mostly made up of old power players, even if that power would recede in short order....
May 27 · 1 hr 8 min
1912 E6 - Paul (PT) Klein
Film historian and cultural critic Paul (PT) Klein’s work focuses on American filmgoing cultures. So even when discussing his sole foreign pick, the conversation dives into audience reception to his selections, then and now, in addition to the various...
May 20 · 47 min
1912 E5 - Stephen Horne
Silent film accompanist and composer https://stephenhorne.co.uk/ has already composed for or accompanied a couple of his five multinational picks for 1912. But besides discussing the general aesthetic pleasures of his selections, he also ruminates on...
May 13 · 56 min
1912 E4 - Marsha Gordon
Marsha Gordon, Professor of Film Studies at North Carolina State University, mostly highlights two directors credited with advancing film narrative with four picks. But she also sings the praises of a certain work of stop-motion animation, one taking...
May 6 · 43 min
1912 E3 - Alison Strauss
As Founding Director of https://www.hippodromecinema.co.uk/hippfest/, Scotland’s first and only silent film festival, Alison Strauss is especially knowledgeable about the history of Scottish filmmaking and -going, as represented by three of her picks....
April 29 · 1 hr 2 min
1912 E2 - Tanya Goldman
Tanya Goldman, Assistant Professor of Film at Missouri State University, has a strong interest in what could variably be called “nontheatrical movies,” “minor cinema,” “useful films,” and other such phrases, reflected by her two concluding picks...
April 22 · 6 min
1912 E1 - Hollywood Incoming
1912 seems to offer more threads of industrial, technological, and social changes in the global film industry than the previous few years, but maybe just because a few still recognizable names can essentially “headline” this season. The threads...
April 15 · 4 min
1911 E7 - The Shorts Continue
The introduction to this 1911 season made a big point (or did it?) that the features have begun, and although the majority of the five most selected films from guests and listeners indeed operate in that mode, the vast majority of selections in...
April 8 · 1 hr
1911 E6 - Casper Tybjerg
Casper Tybjerg, Associate Professor of Film Studies at the University of Copenhagen, selects five films that reflect the advancement of narrative cinematic drama. Whether they offer visual and emotional spectacle or crusading social messages, his...
April 1 · 55 min
1911 E5 - Eva Hielscher
Eva Hielscher, head of film-related collections at https://www.dff.film/en/, selects a wholly international survey of 1911 films, jumping from country to country and genre to genre. This heterogeneous view of the year ranges from French comedy and...
March 25 · 1 hr 14 min
1911 E4 - Thomas Christensen
Thomas Christensen is Curator at the Danish Film Institute, so it stands to reason that all of his selections hail from Denmark. All but one of them come in at “feature length” (and from the same director) as well, reflecting the country’s place in...
March 18 · 1 hr 20 min
1911 E3 - Patrick Friel
Patrick Friel, educator and programmer, is very interested in non-narrative and experimental film. Therefore, his five selections totally fit into those designations (well, with one semi-exception), but each of them offer totally different visual...

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever

1914 E1 - The Great War Begins

1913 E7 - Yes, a Milestone Year

1913 E6 - Charlie Keil

1913 E5 - Paul Gagliardi

1913 E4 - Michael Gebert

1913 E3 - Julie K Allen

1913 E2 - Shelley Stamp

1913 E1 - A Milestone Year?

1912 E7 - The Ol' Power Players Hang in There

1912 E6 - Paul (PT) Klein

1912 E5 - Stephen Horne

1912 E4 - Marsha Gordon

1912 E3 - Alison Strauss

1912 E2 - Tanya Goldman

1912 E1 - Hollywood Incoming

1911 E7 - The Shorts Continue

1911 E6 - Casper Tybjerg

1911 E5 - Eva Hielscher

1911 E4 - Thomas Christensen

1911 E3 - Patrick Friel