World Cinema History

Was Anthony Bourdain more than just a brilliant television host and food writer? In this feature-length, 90-minute episode of World Cinema History, host Eric Trommater is joined by Todd Kennedy, Toups Endowed Professor of Cultural Studies at Nicholls State University and author of Anthony Bourdain, Filmmaker. ​Together with our panel, we explore Kennedy’s provocative thesis: that Bourdain function...

The Persona "Bootleg" Session (Unedited Vault Recording) ​A bunch of American wankers taking on one of the most discussed films in history was a bad idea. Doing so when the host had an ear infection and couldn’t hear was an even worse idea. The results were cringe-inducing and no amount of editing could save it. So this is us, warts and all. Against our better judgment—and entirely due to public p...

"The Leopard" (1963) (Il Gattopardo) | with Special Guest Mike Corradi. THE NOVEL: "The Leopard" (1958) (Il Gattopardo) by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. THE FILM: "The Leopard" (1963) (Il Gattopardo) Directed by: Luchino Visconti Screenplay by: Suso Cecchi d'Amico Pasquale Festa Campanile Enrico Mediolib Massimo Franciosa Luchino Visconti Produced by: Goffredo Lombardo Starring: Burt Lancaster Cla...

Oscar winning screenwriter Kevin Willmott (with Spike Lee for "BlacKkKlansman") sits down with Eric Trommater, Erin Brown, Sila Blume and Jennifer Trujillo. The subject is his 2004 Mockumentary "CSA: Confederate States of America" which he wrote, produced and directed. It imagines the United States if the South had won The Civil War. Chapters: 0:00 - Oscar Winner Kevin Willmott Discusses "CSA: Con...

The Novel: The Trial (Der Prozess) (1925) by Franz Kafka ​The Films: The Trial (Le Procès) (1962) ​Directed by: Orson Welles ​Screenplay by: Orson Welles ​Produced by: Alexander Salkind ​Starring: Anthony Perkins, Orson Welles, Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider, Akim Tamiroff and Elsa Martinelli ​The Trial (1993) ​British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) ​Directed by: David Jones ​Screenplay by: Harold...

Writer-Director-Editor-Actor Jethro Waters sat down with us to discuss his film Gunfighter Paradise and the many hats he wore while making it. Eric Trommater leads a panel with Sila Blume, Erin Brown and Jennifer Trujillo to quiz Jethro on the movie's many mysteries. What's in the Suitcase? Who is Braz Cubas? Why is Braz Cubas? Music: Sci-Fi Music for YouTube Videos (No Copyright) https://youtu.be...

"The Leopard" (1963) (Il Gattopardo) | with Special Guest Mike Corradi. THE NOVEL: "The Leopard" (1958) (Il Gattopardo) by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. THE FILM: "The Leopard" (1963) (Il Gattopardo) Directed by: Luchino Visconti Screenplay by: Suso Cecchi d'Amico Pasquale Festa Campanile Enrico Medioli Massimo Franciosa Luchino Visconti Produced by: Goffredo Lombardo Starring: Burt Lancaster Clau...

THE MOVIE:  Shoot the Piano Player (French: Tirez sur le pianiste; UK title: Shoot the Pianist) (1960)  THE NOVEL: Down There by David Goodis (1957) CAST:  Charles Aznavour  Marie Dubois  Nicole Berger  Michèle Mercier  Albert Rémy  DIRECTED BY:  François Truffaut  SCREENPLAY:  François Truffaut  Marcel Moussy  THE HOST: Eric Trommater  THE PANEL: Sila Blume  Erin Brown  CLIPS USED:  https://youtu...

THE NOVEL : The Godfather (1969  nice 😉 ) By Mario Puzo THE FILM :  The Godfather (1972) Directed by  Francis Ford Coppola Screenplay by  Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola Produced by Albert S. Ruddy Starring Marlon Brando Al Pacino James Caan Richard Castellano Robert Duvall Sterling Hayden John Marley Richard Conte Diane Keaton Cinematography Gordon Willis THE HOST : Erin Brown  YouTube: http...

Part 1: The Memory of Time In the first of our two-part look at Marcel Proust on film, we explore Raúl Ruiz’s 1999 adaptation of the final volume of In Search of Lost Time. Our panel discusses the act of remembering, the difference between theatrical and home viewing, and why our experience of time—and cinema—feels so fragmented in the modern age. Part 2: The Pinter Machine We conclude our Proust...

A Note on this Series: I owe my panel a disclaimer. While I spent nine months prepping—rereading Proust, the screenplay, and researching historical context—the panel had only 10 days and the film, Time Regained, as a guide. I set them a steep climb without the necessary time, operating under the mistaken assumption that Proust was a universal cultural touchstone. Any lack of sharpness in these dis...

The Novel: The Trial ( Der Prozess ) (1925) by Franz Kafka ​ The Films: The Trial ( Le Procès ) (1962) ​Directed by: Orson Welles ​Screenplay by: Orson Welles ​Produced by: Alexander Salkind ​Starring: Anthony Perkins, Orson Welles, Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider, Akim Tamiroff, Elsa Martinelli ​ The Trial (1993) ​British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) ​Directed by: David Jones ​Screenplay by: Haro...

​*WARNING! The FDA highly recommends making peace with the absurdity of the universe before consuming this product. ​THE HOST ​ Eric Trommater * Support Eric on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/I2I81KK10U ​Follow on X: @etrommater ​THE PANEL ​ Erin Brown * Pizza Horse Productions: https://youtube.com/@pizzahorseproductions?si=V91512KJ9HpYNH0b ​Bluesky: @toadpuppy.bsky.soci ​ Jen Trujillo ​Gilbert Baker Fi...

The Host: Eric Trommater https://ko-fi.com/worldcinemahistory The Panel: Susan Gorrell Executive Director of the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival (JDIFF). https://julienfilmfest.com/ Jim Farmer Festival Director of Out On Film https://outonfilm.org Jennifer Trujillo Senior Managing Director and Executive Director at the Gilbert Baker Film Festival and Panelist on The World Cinema History...

​ "I'm not suggesting Bound ...is a remake of Pandora’s Box ... but as a cinephile, you can’t ignore the visual tether." ​This week on World Cinema History , host Eric Trommater finds himself in a tight spot—literally. After a "method-acting" introduction that leaves him duct-taped in a storage closet, Jennifer Trujillo takes the lead to dive into the high-contrast, tactile neo-noir world of the W...

"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a cinephile." This week, the World Cinema History panel breathes in the salt air of 1953 Rimini to tackle Federico Fellini’s early masterwork, I Vitelloni. Following our "Road to Godard" series, we’re pivoting from Maoist groupthink to the "Economic Miracle" of Italy, where the problem isn't a lack of resources—it's a vacuum of purpose. Join Er...

Ingmar Bergman’s "The Passion of Anna" In this episode, we dive into the stark, psychological landscape of Ingmar Bergman’s 1969 masterpiece, The Passion of Anna. As we transition from our Road to Godard series into the new Adaptation era, we explore a film that marks a pivotal moment in Bergman's career—an island of isolation, truth, and structural experimentation. In this roundtable discussion:...

​"A Podcast Found in a Garbage Dump." ​The journey is complete. In the final installment of our Road to Godard series, we tackle Jean-Luc Godard’s 1967 scorched-earth satire, Weekend. We have traveled from the poetic realism of Grand Illusion to the revolutionary "End of Cinema," navigating a landscape of endless traffic jams and the collapse of the social contract. ​In this episode, we discuss: ​...

​ In the penultimate installment of our Road to Godard series, we dive into the 1945 epic that the Cahiers du Cinéma crowd famously dubbed a "beautiful corpse." ​Filmed under the extreme constraints and constant surveillance of the Nazi occupation of France, Marcel Carné and Jacques Prévert managed to construct a work of staggering scale—complete with massive sets and a cast of thousands. Host Eri...

Cocteau’s Orpheus Trilogy | WTF is This? Host: Eric Trommater Panel: Erin Brown, Sila Blume, and Jennifer Trujillo In this episode, we step through the mirror into the cinematic life of Jean Cocteau. We examine the foundational trilogy—The Blood of a Poet (1930), Orphée (1950), and The Testament of Orpheus (1960)—not as technical exercises, but as a shared space where the image carries a specific,...

A Conversation with Jethro Waters. In this episode, our panel—Eric Trommater, Erin Brown, Jennifer Trujillo, and Sila Blume—sits down with a true polymath of modern film: Jethro Waters. Jethro serves as the writer, director, editor, and cinematographer for his debut feature, Gunfighter Paradise . He even steps in front of the lens as the film’s lead actor under the nom-de-plume Braz Cubas. Togethe...

We are joined by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Kevin Willmott (Best Adapted Screenplay for Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman) to discuss his 2004 mockumentary, C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America. Alongside our panel—Eric Trommater, Erin Brown, Sila Blume, and Jennifer Trujillo—we explore Willmott’s searing speculative history that imagines a world where the North lost the Civil War. We dive i...

Is Ralph Bakshi's Coonskin (1975) Racist? Spoiler: Yes. In 1975, Ralph Bakshi’s Coonskin—a jagged, mixed-media parody of Song of the South—sparked massive protests for its depictions of Harlem, the Mob, and the LGBTQ community. Decades before Roger Rabbit, Bakshi was already blending live-action and animation to create a disturbing, distorted lens of Black America. Host Eric Trommater, joined by E...

For Black History Month, we are exploring the roots of independent African filmmaking. Black Girl serves as a powerful starting point for this journey, tracing the movement of a young Senegalese woman from Dakar to the French Riviera. We discuss Sembène's transition from literature to film as a means of communicating with a non-literate audience, effectively creating a new visual language for a po...

The Road to Godard hits the streets of Dakar. ​In this episode of the World Cinema History Podcast, we immerse ourselves in the vibrant, avant-garde energy of Djibril Diop Mambéty’s 1973 landmark, Touki Bouki. Eric Trommater, Erin Brown, Jennifer Trujillo and Sila Blume break it all down. Erin and Eric were rather cold on Godard's Breathless. Will the warmer climate of Senegal warm up them to the...