Afleveringen
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The affinity Enri Ceballos has for dance is intensely represented by his picks for 1900, four of which feature the sheer joy of human movement. Both in front of and behind the screen, these films (all French and helmed by women!) also represent the diversity of gender and sexuality at play, along with sound and color technologies, in early cinema's history.
Enri is the General Director for the Mexico International Silent Film Festival, a PhD student at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and a member of Women and Film History International.
Films and resources mentioned:
La concierge (1900) - Alice Guy-BlachéDanse directoire (1900) - Marguerite VrignaultDance of the Seasons: Winter (1900) - Alice Guy-BlachéGavotte (1900) - Marguerite VrignaultPierrette's Escapades (1900) - Alice Guy-BlachéCyrano de Bergerac (1900) - Clément MauriceHamlet (1900) - Clément Maurice"Do You Believe in Fairies? Cabbages, Victorian Memes, and the Birth of Cinema: Seeing Sapphic Sexuality in the Silent Era" - Kiki Loveday -
Considering Carolyn Jacobs' research focuses on the cultural history of media, especially in relation to histories of medicine, science, and public health, it makes sense that she examines her five picks through those lenses. From kissing panics to women being barred from performing surgery, the medical view of the discussed films brings new angles to understanding early cinema.
Carolyn is an Assistant Professor of Media Studies in the Communication Department at Central Connecticut State University. Her current book project, Sanitizing Cinema: Public Health and the Regulation of American Film, considers the effects of health emergencies on the development of motion pictures in the early twentieth century.
Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1900!
Films and resources mentioned:
Exploding a Whitehead Torpedo (1900) - James H. WhiteGrandma's Reading Glass (1900) - George Albert SmithThe Kiss (1900) - unknownThe Cabbage Fairy (1900) - Alice Guy-BlachéTurn-of-the-century Surgery (1900) - Alice Guy-BlachéOppenheimer (2023) - Christopher NolanThe Cheese Mites (1903) - F. Martin DuncanTo Demonstrate How Spiders Fly (1909) - F. Percy SmithThe Acrobatic Fly (1910) - F. Percy SmithMad Max (1979) - George MillerThe Kiss (1896) - William HeiseFred Ott's Sneeze (1894) - William K.L. DicksonThe Horse in Motion (1878) - Eadweard MuybridgeSomething Good/Negro Kiss (1898) - William SeligThe Cabbage Fairy (1896) - Alice Guy-BlachéMidwife to the Upper Class (1902) - Alice Guy-BlachéFalling Leaves (1912) - Alice Guy-BlachéLa séparacion de Doodica-Radica (1902) - Eugène-Louis Doyen"Do You Believe in Fairies? Cabbages, Victorian Memes, and the Birth of Cinema: Seeing Sapphic Sexuality in the Silent Era" - Kiki Loveday -
Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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From misattribution to missing sound, this conversation with Frank Kessler has a bit of lamentation for the lost works and context of early cinema. But there's also some celebration that we can view any films from the turn of the century (and earlier), including his picks that include trickery and evolving film language.
Frank is professor in media history at Utrecht University. His research activities concern mainly the field of early cinema and visual media in the 19th and early 20th century. His work includes the research program "The Nation and Its Other" and he acted as project leader and editor for A Million Pictures: Magic Lantern Slides in the History of Learning.
Films and resources mentioned:
The One-Man Band (1900) - Georges MélièsAttack on a China Mission (1900) - James WilliamsonGrandma's Reading Glass (1900) - George Albert SmithThe Cabbage Fairy (1900) - Alice Guy-BlachéHamlet (1900) - Clément MauriceA Railway Collision (1900) - Walter R. BoothSan Francisco Earthquake & Fire: April 18, 1906 (1906) - unknownThe Dreyfus Affair (1899) - Georges MélièsA Sneaky Boer (1901) - unknownThe Cabbage Fairy (1896) - Alice Guy-BlachéHugo (2011) - Martin ScorseseRescued by Rover (1905) - Cecil HepworthCyrano de Bergerac (1900) - Clément MauriceAlice Guy Films a ‘Phonoscène’ in the Studio at Buttes-Chaumont, Paris (1907) - Alice Guy-Blaché'They thought it was a marvel' : Arthur Melbourne-Cooper (1874-1961) : pioneer of puppet animation (2009) - Tjitte de Vries and Ati MulWomen Film Pioneers Project -
Matthew Solomon has taught film history and theory at the University of Michigan since 2011, with special interests in early and silent cinema, classic Hollywood filmmaking, and French film. He brings all that to bear on his five picks for 1900, which contain techniques that have only retroactively been considered early displays of evolving film grammar...and indeed, they are two-fifths French.
Matthew is the author of Disappearing Tricks: Silent Film, Houdini, and the New Magic of the Twentieth Century and Méliès Boots: Footwear and Film Manufacturing in Second Industrial Revolution Paris, among many other books, articles, and publications.
Films and resources mentioned:
Let Me Dream Again (1900) - George Albert SmithGrandma's Reading Glass (1900) - George Albert SmithThe Enchanted Drawing (1900) - J. Stuart BlacktonThe Magic Book (1900) - Georges MélièsThe One-Man Band (1900) - Georges MélièsThe Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. PorterHugo (2011) - Martin ScorseseThe Cabbage Fairy (1896) - Alice Guy-BlachéThe Cabbage Fairy (1900) - Aice Guy-BlachéThe Playhouse (1921) - Buster Keaton and Edward F. ClineThe Sprinkler Sprinkled (1895) - Louis Lumière -
Malcolm Cook, Associate Professor of Film at the University of Southampton, found it challenging to pick just five works to represent 1900. But his selections embody the cross-section of genres and approaches across three countries, demonstrating how the turn of the century didn't suddenly disrupt the paradigms of the cinema of attractions but evolved them in exciting ways.
Malcolm is the author of Early British Animation: From Page and Stage to Cinema Screens (2018) and co-editor (with Kirsten Moana Thompson) of the collection Animation and Advertising (2019). His current research focusses on useful animation, especially in relation to petroleum industries, with recent articles on this published in Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal (2023) and Media+Environment (2024).
Films and resources mentioned:
The Enchanted Drawing (1900) - J. Stuart BlacktonThe One-Man Band (1900) - Georges MélièsExplosion of a Motor Car (1900) - Cecil HepworthSolar Eclipse (1900) - Nevil MaskelynePierrette's Escapades (1900) - Alice Guy-BlachéA Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges MélièsThe Wizard of Oz (1939) - Victor FlemingAnnabelle Serpentine Dance (1895) - William K.L. Dickson and William HeiseWorkers Leaving the Lumière Factory (1895) - Louis LumièreHow It Feels to Be Run Over (1900) - Cecil HepworthThe Automatic Motorist (1911) - Walter R. BoothCrash (1996) - David CronenbergThe Magic Book (1900) - Georges MélièsHugo (2011) - Martin ScorseseWomen Film Pioneers Project -
The second season of The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever narrows down from the decade-plus of the first down to just one calendar year. The first year of the 20th century didn't suddenly erupt the cinematic world into wholly unprecedented developments. But it fits into the trends and patterns steadily evolving through the last years of the 1800s, even as exciting changes and quality films illustrate increased output and popularity.
From medical viewpoints to "animation," retroactive markers of "filmic language" to attribution mysteries, the conversations with host Tristan Ettleman's guests are sure to dispel some myths and preconceived notions of this era of cinema and encourage the discovery of both well-documented and relatively obscure movies. Join us for an exploration of 1900 with The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever!
Films mentioned:
Hamlet (1900) - Clément MauriceCyrano de Bergerac (1900) - Clément MauriceJoan of Arc (1900) - Georges Méliès -
Invented within the last decade or so of the 1800s, "cinema" (a fluid definition not owed to any one person or group as this season has demonstrated) grew exponentially through the end of the century. The guests for this first season of The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever have demonstrated the diversity of filmic form in this incubatory period, including technologies, genres, and representation before and behind the camera associated with much later decades. In this finale, host Tristan Ettleman summarizes the trends of the era, shares his five picks for the 1800s, and creates a "mini-canon" from guests' and listeners' picks. You can view that list at the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com. And be sure to look forward to the next season on 1900, starting soon!
Thank you to the guests of this first season:
J.J. DiUbaldiAurore SpiersMaggie HennefeldBryony DixonPeter DomankiewiczFilms mentioned:
Pauvre Pierrot (1892) - Charles-Émile ReynaudCinderella (1899) - Georges MélièsThe Astronomer's Dream (1898) - Georges MélièsAnnabelle Serpentine Dance (1895) - William K.L. Dickson and William HeiseAutour d'une cabine (1894) - Charles-Émile ReynaudWorkers Leaving the Lumière Factory (1895) - Louis LumièreSomething Good/Negro Kiss (1898) - William SeligThe Four Troublesome Heads (1898) - Georges MélièsThe Dairy Maid's Revenge (1899) - Frank S. Armitage -
Peter Domankiewicz is a film director (Tea & Sangria), screenwriter, and journalist with a long-standing interest in the origins of cinema. That interest manifests in five picks that deconstruct some of the myths surrounding early film, including the definition of “cinema” and its “invention,” a widescreen format at least 70 years before it became a standard, and a genuinely exclusive explanation of a film residing in the French national film archive that Peter was able to identify this summer.
He is currently in the final year of a fully-funded PhD at De Montfort University, examining the work and inventions of the controversial moving picture pioneer, William Friese-Greene. He has written about early film for Sight & Sound and The Guardian, contributed to reference works and journals, and has recently co-authored Finding Birt Acres: The Rediscovery of a Film Pioneer for publication by University of Exeter Press in 2025. His blog William Friese-Greene & Me presents original research on early film history for a broad readership.
Films and resources mentioned:
Fumerie d'opium (1899) - Gabriel VeyreLa Nourrice (c. 1896-1900) - Georges MélièsThe Derby 1895 (1895) - Birt AcresYoung Griffo v. Battling Charles Barnett (1895) - Otway Latham"Untitled" (1890) - William Friese-GreeneNapoléon (1927) - Abel GanceRepas annamite (1899) - Gabriel VeyreLe village de Namo: panorama pris d’une chaise à porteurs (1900) - Gabriel VeyreThe Soldier's Courtship (1896) - Robert W. PaulPauvre Pierrot (1892) - Charles-Émile ReynaudWorkers Leaving the Lumière Factory (1895) - Louis LumièreThe Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race (1895) - Birt AcresRough Sea at Dover (1895) - Birt AcresBullfight (1896) - Gray Latham and Eugène LausteThe Nichols Sisters (1895) - Otway LathamSidewalks of New York (1895) - Otway LathamChildren Dancing with Barrel Organ (1898) - Charles Goodwin NortonArrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1896) - Louis Lumière"Who? What? When? Where? A mini chronology of the start of cinema" - Peter Domankiewicz"Happy 125th Birthday, Cinema!" - Peter Domankiewicz -
Bryony Dixon is the curator of silent film at the BFI National Archive and her picks for the 1800s reflect that expertise. Bryony discusses five British films that are emblematic of key developments in the earliest days of film, which align with the end of the Victorian era that she details in her book The Story of Victorian Film.
Bryony is also the author of 100 Silent Films and has written numerous articles and book chapters on silent cinema and archiving. She is co-director of the British Silent Film Festival and has programmed films for many international festivals. She has been lead curator on a number of the BFI’s recent film restorations, including Underground (1928), Shooting Stars (1927), Epic of Everest (1924), The Great White Silence (1924), all nine surviving Hitchcock silent films, and the BFI’s large format Victorian films. Her Twitter is @bryonydixon.
Visit https://www.the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own five favorites of the 1800s for a final tally in the season finale!
Films and resources mentioned:
Children Dancing with Barrel Organ (1898) - Charles Goodwin NortonSanta Claus (1898) - George Albert SmithPanoramic View of the Vegetable Market at Venice (1898) - William K.L. DicksonThe Miller and the Sweep (1897) - George Albert SmithLaunch of H.M.S. Albion (1898) - Robert W. PaulLaunch of H.M.S. Albion at Blackwall (1898) - E.P. PrestwichThe Battle of Midway (1942) - John FordHistory of the Kinetograph, Kinetoscope and Kinetophonograph - William K.L. Dickson and Antonia Dickson -
Maggie Hennefeld, Professor of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, has literally written the book(s) on early cinematic feminist humor. Death by Laughter: Female Hysteria and Early Cinema and Specters of Slapstick and Silent Film Comediennes tackle similar themes to those explored in her five picks from the 1890s, which reveal the expansive possibilities of the earliest days of film, from anarchic comedy to those who worked behind the camera.
Maggie is also a curator of the 4-disc DVD/Blu-ray collection Cinema's First Nasty Women and co-director of Archives on Screen, Twin Cities. Her socials are:
Twitter: @magshenny
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hennefem/
Bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/hennefem.bsky.social
Visit https://www.the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own five favorites of the 1800s for a final tally in the season finale!
Films and resources mentioned:
The Boxing Cats (1894) - William K.L. Dickson and William HeiseThe Cabbage Fairy (1896) - Alice Guy-BlachéThe Cabbage Fairy (1900) - Alice Guy-BlachéSomething Good/Negro Kiss (1898) - William SeligThe Four Troublesome Heads (1898) - Georges MélièsThe Dairy Maid's Revenge (1899) - Frank S. ArmitageFredd Ott's Sneeze (1894) - William K.L. DicksonCarmencita (1894) - William K.L. DicksonSioux Ghost Dance (1894) - William K.L. DicksonBe Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché (2018) - Pamela B. GreenPierrette's Escapades (1900) - Alice Guy-BlachéAlgie, the Miner (1912) - Alice Guy-Blaché, Harry Schenk, and Edward WarrenThe Pill Pounder (1923) - Gregory La CavaMadame's Cravings (1907) - Alice Guy-BlachéMoonlight (2016) - Barry JenkinsIf Beale Street Could Talk (2018) - Barry JenkinsMary Jane's Mishap (1903) - George Albert SmithThe Man with the Rubber Head (1901) - Georges MélièsThe Big Swallow (1901) - James WilliamsonLéontine's Battery (1910) - Unknown"Do You Believe in Fairies? Cabbages, Victorian Memes, and the Birth of Cinema: Seeing Sapphic Sexuality in the Silent Era" - Kiki LovedayWomen Film Pioneers Project"The Cinema of Racialized Attraction(s): The John C. Rice–May Irwin Kiss and Something Good—Negro Kiss" - Allyson Nadia Field"The Cinema of Attraction[s]: Early Film, Its Spectator and the Avant-Garde" - Tom GunningSilent LondonThe Loft Cinema -
As a feminist film historian and scholar, Aurore Spiers (she/her) is mainly focused on women’s contributions to film, with her work interrogating historiographical processes—what history gets written, how, and why—through the lens of gender and intersectional and multidimensional feminism. That focus is reflected in her five picks for the 1800s, as the labor behind the camera is explored and expectations of this period in film are challenged.
Aurore received her PhD in Cinema and Media Studies from The University of Chicago in 2022. Since 2015, she has been a contributing editor to the Women Film Pioneers Project, edited by Jane Gaines, Monica Dall’Asta, Radha Vatsal, and Kate Saccone, and published by Columbia University Libraries. Her Twitter handle is @AurSpiers.
Visit https://www.the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own five favorites of the 1800s for a final tally in the season finale!
Films and resources mentioned:
The Dairy Maid's Revenge (1899) - Frank S. ArmitageSomething Good/Negro Kiss (1898) - William SeligThe Cabbage Fairy (1896) - Alice Guy-BlachéThe Cabbage Fairy (1900) - Alice Guy-BlachéWorkers Leaving the Lumière Factory (1895) - Louis LumièreAnnabelle Serpentine Dance (1895) - William K.L. Dickson and William HeiseThe Sprinkler Sprinkled (1895) - Louis LumièreMidwife First Class (1902) - Alice Guy-BlachéMadame's Cravings (1907) - Alice Guy-BlachéAnnabelle Butterfly Dance (1894) - William K.L. DicksonThe Lily of Life (1920) - Loie FullerArrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1895) - Louis LumièreWomen Film Pioneers ProjectCinema's First Nasty Women"Do You Believe in Fairies? Cabbages, Victorian Memes, and the Birth of Cinema: Seeing Sapphic Sexuality in the Silent Era" - Kiki LovedayAuguste and Louis Lumière Letters: Inventing the CinemaJaponisme and the Birth of Cinema - Daisuke MiyaoFantasia of Color in Early Cinema - Tom Gunning, Giovanna Fossati, Joshua Yumibe, Jonathon Rosen -
As the first guest of The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever and its 1800s season, writer and avid "prehistoric" film watcher J.J. DiUbaldi explores sound, color, and positive racial depictions (among other topics) through his five picks; things one might not expect to find in the earliest motion pictures of the 1880s and '90s.
J.J. maintains zepfanman.com, an eclectic hodgepodge of his interests over the years. His goal is to connect people and facilitate sharing in a way that only the internet can provide, which includes a 10 Years 10 Films blog series that is not unlike this podcast. You can also follow him on Letterboxd @zepfanman.
Visit https://www.the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own five favorites of the 1800s for a final tally in the season finale!
Films and resources mentioned:
Serpentine Dance (1897) - Louis LumièreSomething Good/Negro Kiss (1898) - William SeligAnnie G. (1887) - Eadweard MuybridgeThe Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894 or '95) - William K.L. DicksonCinderella (1899) - Georges MélièsLa Cucaracha (1934) - Lloyd CorriganThe Movie Orgy (1968) - Joe DanteThe Kiss (1896) - William HeiseNope (2022) - Jordan PeeleTimeline of Historical Film ColorsMéliès: Fairy Tales in Color -
Welcome to The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever. Ahead of guests and listeners sharing their picks for the first decade or so of cinema up until the end of the nineteenth century, instructor and host Tristan Ettleman provides some context on the podcast and the creation of “moving pictures.”
