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PODCAST

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.

tv & film film history

All Episodes

36:29

1910 E6 - Kathy Rose O'Regan

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2026/02/18

As Executive Director of San Francisco Film Preserve, Kathy Rose O’Regan works hard to highlight our shared film heritage. Her five picks certainly paint a picture of the international nuances of 1910 filmmaking, with each hailing from a different country and operating in a different narrative mode (or lack thereof).Kathy also served as the Senior Film Restorer for San Francisco Silent Film Festival, overseeing all operations of the preservation department and managing the restoration of dozens of

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42:50

1910 E5 - Kynan Dias

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2026/02/11

Kynan Dias, Assistant Professor at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is no stranger to podcasting as co-host, with Lester Ryan Clark, of a series of film history podcasts on the TruStory.FM network. His picks reflect some of the conversation surrounding this 1910 season regarding literary adaptations and real-world impact, but the discussion finds new angles to explore, including a landmark work of Native American filmmaking.Kynan earned a B.A. in film from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where

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56:59

1910 E4 - Laura Horak

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2026/02/04

Laura Horak, Professor of Film Studies at Carleton University, is the author of Girls Will Be Boys: Cross-Dressing Women, Lesbians, and American Cinema. Therefore, most of the conversation addresses the transgression, or lack thereof, of films that depicted such changes in dress, a rich topic represented by four of her five picks.Laura is also the director of the Transgender Media Lab and Transgender Media Portal. She is co-curator of the 99-film Bluray set Cinema’s First Nasty Women and co-editor

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73:54

1910 E3 - David Morton

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2026/01/28

David Morton, Lecturer at the University of Central Florida, is the author of Motion Picture Paradise: A History of Florida’s Film and Television Industry. With this expertise in mind, the opening of the conversation covers the American film industry’s halting migration to the southern state, but moves on to American migrations to other locations and censored films.David received his Ph.D. in Texts and Technology in 2019 from University of Central Florida in 2019. He was a 2017-18 recipient of the

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50:06

1910 E2 - Ned Thanhouser

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2026/01/21

Ned Thanhouser is president of Thanhouser Company Film Preservation and grandson of film pioneers Gertrude and Edwin Thanhouser. It makes sense, then, that he and Tristan discuss the founding of his family’s studio, which released its first film in 1910, but they also move on to Ned’s picks of classic literature adaptations and controversy.Ned directed the 2014 documentary The Thanhouser Studio and the Birth of American Cinema. He has been active in film preservation since 1986, produced 17 DVDs

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5:44

1910 E1 - The Beginning of a Decade

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2026/01/14

The start of the 1910s doesn’t quite immediately usher in the cinematic measurement that would come to rule the decade: the feature film. But proto-forms of what would become the narrative standard arise in 1910, and otherwise, exciting images, narrative experiences, and affecting displays of historical milieu can be found in the productions of the year.Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your top five picks for 1910!Films mentioned:The Broken Oath (1910) - Harry SolterThe Railroad

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4:36

1909 E7 - A Funny Year

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2026/01/07

One of the most diverse lists of films selected for any season so far defines this brief conclusion to 1909. The unique array of selections does ultimately lead into a universal appreciation for comedy, rising above some of the efforts to “legitimize” the cinematic medium as has been discussed at the tail end of the first decade of the 20th century.Films mentioned:The Mill (1909) - Alfred MachinMr. Flip (1909) - Gilbert M. “Broncho Billy” AndersonWhy Girls Leave Home (1909) - unknownFirst

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58:24

1909 E6 - Paul Flaig

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2025/12/31

Paul Flaig, Lecturer in Film Studies at University of St Andrews, wrote a stellar synthesis of disciplines with his new book Weimar Slapstick and Hollywood Comedy Transformed. While it clearly deals with a later period than 1909, he still works German and American (and French!) comedy into his picks, in addition to a sound novelty and an actuality with a connection to Franz Kafka.Paul is also the co-editor, with Katherine Groo, of New Silent Cinema and co-director, with Dora Osborne, of the German

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52:06

1909 E5 - Yuki Irikura

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2025/12/24

Yuki Irikura, Assistant Professor at Waseda University, mostly selects D.W. Griffith films for her 1909 list, reflecting the director’s growing powers and appeal. She concludes, however, with old-school tricks and the debut of Japan’s first film star.Yuki’s research focuses on Japanese and American silent film history. She earned her Ph.D. in February 2024 with a dissertation on Bluebird Photoplays, examining the company’s production of five-reel feature films, their popularity in Japan, and the

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48:27

1909 E4 - Kathy Fuller-Seeley

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2025/12/17

Kathy Fuller-Seeley, Professor of Media Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, studied early cinema audiences with her book At the Picture Show: Small Town Audiences and the Creation of Movie Fan Culture. Since then, her research interests have ranged to radio and back again to mid-1910s film history, and her interests similarly weave back and forth from morbid drama and eye-popping tricks.Kathy also produced the Blu-ray release Francis Ford: The Craving plus Three Shorts. She is co-author,

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53:12

1909 E3 - Donald Crafton

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2025/12/10

Author and scholar Donald Crafton wrote Before Mickey: The Animated Film, 1898-1928, a defining work of early animation history. Yet with the exception of one example from a filmmaker much discussed in that book and especially his other Emile Cohl, Caricature, and Film, his picks range into the live action territory of editing innovations alongside the still-surviving tradition of trick films and actualities.Donald also wrote on the transition from silent cinema to sound production in The Talkies:

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50:24

1909 E2 - Paddy Adamson

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2025/12/03

Paddy Adamson, Associate Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of St Andrews, recently published his monograph Projecting America: The Epic Western and National Mythmaking in 1920s Hollywood. While this particular research interest is represented by one pick, albeit through a Danish interpretation of the genre, the rest of his picks showcase film comedy as it was interpreted in France, Italy, America, and beyond.Paddy is also editor of Open Screens and Film Journal. His research on 1920s

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6:20

1909 E1 - The End of a Decade

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2025/11/26

The end of the first decade of the 20th century is a fitting time to reflect on the monumental changes facing the cinematic medium and the global industry that supported it in 1909. As this season will demonstrate, with an extremely diverse array of guest picks that features the least amount of overlap for the show so far, established genres and techniques, which are effective and pleasurable, coexist with the exciting refinement of composition, effects, narratives, and screen acting.Films

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5:08

1908 E7 - Prestige and Spectacle

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2025/11/19

The introduction to this 1908 season addressed the elephant in the room: D.W. Grififth’s directorial debut. However, even though he came up quite a bit in the five conversations, his films didn’t dominate the selections (yet), and the heterogeneity of the picks makes for an eclectic viewing experience to represent 1908.Films mentioned:Get Me a Stepladder (1908) - unknownUnterm Paraplui Nr. 87 (1908) - unknownThe Adventures of Dollie (1908) - D.W. GriffithThe Assassination of the Duke of Guise (1908)

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48:32

1908 E6 - Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2025/11/12

Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa, Associate Professor of Film and Media at Seattle University, focuses his research on the history of scientific filmmaking, nontheatrical film, and animal studies. But except for a couple of intriguing threads related to this work, his selections branch out and revel in spectacle and fantasy.Ben is the author of The Celluloid Specimen: Moving Image Research into Animal Life. He is currently working on two other book projects, tentatively titled Against Encounter: The

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51:53

1908 E5 - Donald Sosin

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2025/11/05

Donald Sosin has been composing and performing silent film music since 1971. His experience playing at major festivals all over the world, often with his wife, singer/percussionist Joanna Seaton, informs the milestone in film music that is one of his picks, in addition to the rhythm of fluid animation and classic tales.Donald and Joanna record for Criterion, Kino, Milestone, Flicker Alley and European labels. Their website is oldmoviemusic.com.Films mentioned:The Adventures of Dollie (1908) - D.W

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52:04

1908 E4 - Ivo Blom

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2025/10/29

Ivo Blom, lecturer in Comparative Arts & Media Studies at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, connected, through the lens of an early film pioneer in the Netherlands, international aesthetics and film industry markets with his book Jean Desmet and the Early Dutch Film Trade. His five selections for 1908 similarly give a broad picture of filmic development in the year and period, from attempted artfulness to technological novelties.Ivo has frequently published on Italian silent film and its links to

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61:45

1908 E3 - Don McHoull

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2025/10/22

Don McHoull is the creator of @silentmoviegifs, first on Twitter and now Bluesky. He has found viral success with striking images throughout silent film history, and with his picks, he similarly finds comedy, tricks, and drama that still resonate today.Don’s enthusiasm for silent movies led to his GIF creations over ten years ago. He has also been making long-form videos on film and comic strips on his YouTube channel.Films and resources mentioned:His First Cigar (1908) - Louis J. GasnierExcursion

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62:19

1908 E2 - Tracey Goessel

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2025/10/15

Author and preservationist Tracey Goessel is the founder of the Film Preservation Society and is in the thick of restoring all of the D.W. Griffith Biograph films. So it makes sense that she selects two films he made in his first year of directing, while also addressing comedy, morbidity, and the enduring appeal of dogs doing things.Tracey is the author of The First King of Hollywood: The Life of Douglas Fairbanks. She is also on the board of directors of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, has

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6:03

1908 E1 - Yes, Griffith Is Here

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever ·

2025/10/08

The beginning of D.W. Griffith’s directorial career looms large for 1908, with past seasons referring to the upcoming “Griffith era” and behind-the-scenes conversations with potential guests featuring requests to reach back out around this period of narrative development, often attributed to or considered to be represented by the filmmaker. But the films selected this season certainly go beyond Griffith and this brief context-setting introduction addresses other artistic, technical, and business

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83 results

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