The 1920's Fresh Air Award

Episode #40 - Welcome to the third Fresh Air Award! Four cinephiles continue a Fourwind Films tradition of awarding a film that pushed cinema forward the most as an artform during a particular decade. To be nominated, a motion picture has to have changed movies in some way and made a lasting impression on how movies are made today. This episode delves into the decade that saw the beginning of successful commercial sound in cinema: 1920-1929.

Before getting into the nominations with the panelists, our host Justin Joseph Hall goes through a quick history lesson on what was happening in the decade businesswise and technology-wise. 

The four cinephiles who select the nominees in this panel are cinephiles Elizabeth Chatelain, Tracey Goessel, Justin Joseph Hall, and Kevin Hinman. If the piece has moving images and came out in the appropriate decade, it is eligible for nomination. This group chose an array of documentaries, shorts, animated films, and feature films, including films with the first synchronized score with animation, the first montage, a commercially successful duo tone color film, and the first soundtrack synched on the film strip.

Here is the link to all the nominations: 1920’s Fresh Air Award Nominees - Letterboxd list

There were several overlaps, but here are the main nominations made by each panelist:

To find the 1920’s Fresh Air Award winner click on this link!

We hope you enjoy this episode! Share with us your own lists, comments, arguments, and films that we left out via social media @fourwindfilms. We’re on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening, Season 7 to come shortly!

Thank you to our cinephiles who did joined this out of their passion. To hear more from them, visit links below:

Elizabeth Chatelain

Quatre-Vents Post-Production

Movie Directing & Writing

Credits for podcast:

Production Company - Fourwind Films

Fresh Air Award Contributors for 1900s Decade - Elizabeth Chatelain, Tracey Goessel, Justin Joseph Hall, & Kevin Hinman

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Editor - Billie Jo Laitinen

Sound Mixer - Hans Bilger

Additional Sound Recordist - Elizabeth Chatelain, Kevin Hinman, Ricky Rosario

The theme song of Season 6 is Getting It Done by Kevin MacLeod.

Additional Music MOMFG & The Drums! provided by Kevin Hinman & Magnum Opus for interludes.

Music in the public domain used in this podcast:

Deep Blue Sea - Clara Smith

One of Battleship Potemkin’s Scores - Eisenstein wanted the scores to be updated about every decade.

Don Juan Soundtrack - Context on who wrote it “William Axt used two pieces that owned by Robbins-Engel, "The Fire Agitato" and "In Gloomy Forest," along with several pieces of European classical music including compositions by Richard Strauss.