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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106 episodes
Updated Wednesday
Explicit

Episodes106

Newest first

May 28, 2025 · 1 hr 2 min
1905 E4 - Scott Curtis
Scott Curtis, associate professor of radio/film/television and communication at Northwestern University, has published extensively on the use of moving images in scientific and medical research, education, and communication. That particular interest...
May 21, 2025 · 54 min
1905 E3 - Shawn Hall
Shawn Hall brings his love of silent films to new audiences through his https://www.tiktok.com/@silentshawn95 TikTok account, where he is currently working his way through reviewing each movie on https://www.silentera.com/info/top100.html. He...
May 14, 2025 · 31 min
1905 E2 - Dan Willard
Dan Willard’s interest in film was fostered by a viewing of Eraserhead in 1977 and a number of UCLA film classes. In more recent years and reflecting the depths of his cinephilia, that has manifested in his extensive Films by the Year...
May 7, 2025 · 3 min
1905 E1 - The Nickelodeon Boom
The year 1905 pops up early in many film histories to address the start of the "nickelodeon era." As past seasons have shown, the Harris brothers' Pittsburgh storefront wasn't truly the first space dedicated to showing movies, but it and others...
Apr 23, 2025 · 6 min
1904 E7 - An Awkward Year
This season’s conversations about film in 1904 often turned to the “awkwardness” of finding standout titles and defining the most representative developments in the art, business, and reception of cinema. Nevertheless, this year’s five guests...
Apr 16, 2025 · 44 min
1904 E6 - Céline Ruivo
Film preservationist Céline Ruivo brings an eye for color and pre-cinema to her five early cinema picks for 1904. From scientific intent to fantasy, and industrialism and modernity in between, she demonstrates how an apparently unmemorable year like...
Apr 9, 2025 · 42 min
1904 E5 - Martin L Johnson
Martin L. Johnson, film historian and Associate Professor in English and Comparative Literature at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has literally written https://iupress.org/9780253032539/main-street-movies/. While most of his picks fit...
Apr 2, 2025 · 49 min
1904 E4 - Dimitrios Latsis
Dimitrios Latsis, Associate Professor in Digital and Audiovisual Preservation at the University of Alabama, has worked extensively in the fields of American visual culture, early cinema, archival studies, and digital humanities. These interests are...
Mar 26, 2025 · 50 min
1904 E3 - George Willeman
George Willeman has been the Nitrate Film Vault Leader at the Library of Congress for 41 years. Having been in love with movies as far back as he can remember, George is still constantly amazed at the discoveries found within the Library’s nitrate...
Mar 19, 2025 · 42 min
1904 E2 - Steve Massa
Film historian Steve Massa is a particular expert on silent film comedy. His five choices for 1904 certainly reflect that interest, as they feature premises and gags that can still rouse surprise, chuckles, and laughs today. Steve is the author of...
Mar 12, 2025 · 3 min
1904 E1 - The Story of Narrative Continues
While 1904 doesn't have an iconic film like the past two seasons have each featured, that doesn't mean it doesn't have its share of worthwhile films and intriguing aspects of film history to explore. From the eve of the nickelodeon boom to expanding...
Feb 26, 2025 · 6 min
1903 E7 - Editing and Otherwise
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...
Feb 19, 2025 · 58 min
1903 E6 - Colin Williamson
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...
Feb 12, 2025 · 42 min
1903 E5 - Rob Stone
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...
Feb 5, 2025 · 1 hr 11 min
1903 E4 - Jay Weissberg
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...
Jan 29, 2025 · 42 min
1903 E3 - Bruce Calvert
Silent film historian Bruce Calvert has been collecting silent film memorabilia for 30 years, showcased on his site https://www.silentfilmstillarchive.com/index.html. He shares his story of how he came to develop this interest and addresses how...
Jan 22, 2025 · 1 hr 12 min
1903 E2 - Neil Brand
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...
Jan 15, 2025 · 4 min
1903 E1 - The Great Film Robberies
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...
Jan 2, 2025 · 5 min
1902 E7 - From the Streets to the Studio
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,...
Dec 26, 2024 · 1 hr 3 min
1902 E6 - Tamara Shvediuk and Federico Striuli
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...

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever

1905 E4 - Scott Curtis

1905 E3 - Shawn Hall

1905 E2 - Dan Willard

1905 E1 - The Nickelodeon Boom

1904 E7 - An Awkward Year

1904 E6 - Céline Ruivo

1904 E5 - Martin L Johnson

1904 E4 - Dimitrios Latsis

1904 E3 - George Willeman

1904 E2 - Steve Massa

1904 E1 - The Story of Narrative Continues

1903 E7 - Editing and Otherwise

1903 E6 - Colin Williamson

1903 E5 - Rob Stone

1903 E4 - Jay Weissberg

1903 E3 - Bruce Calvert

1903 E2 - Neil Brand

1903 E1 - The Great Film Robberies

1902 E7 - From the Streets to the Studio

1902 E6 - Tamara Shvediuk and Federico Striuli