A Year in Film Podcasting

Having just released the 2024 review show for The Cinematologists Podcast, I've been thinking about the shows and specific episodes of film podcasts that I've most enjoyed and been inspired by.

It’s only been four years since critic Girish Shambu published The New Cinephilia, a concise manifesto that championed the resurgence of vigorous film appreciation, fandom, and analysis enabled by digital culture. When I first read it, it seemed obvious that podcasting was a key part of what he termed the “deep engagement” with cinema’s “elsewhere.” As much as the “there” of the primary encounter with a film itself, the “elsewhere” is a vital corollary that gives the cinema experience its shape and meaning—particularly in a digital age, where the cognitive and physical depth of the cinema experience is often reduced to mere “content.”

For the past ten years, The Cinematologists Podcast, which I’ve co-hosted and produced with my great friend and colleague Prof. Neil Fox, has been at the centre of shaping cultural engagement with film.

It functions as a conduit between the “there” and “elsewhere” of cinema in many intersecting ways: as an ongoing creative canvas, as an archival project for cinephilic encounters, as a center for developing practical skills, as a platform for thinking through ideas, and perhaps most importantly, as a place to think and talk about films as an act of friendship and collaboration.

As always on The Cinematologists, Neil and I review the year in cinema while also reflecting on where we see cinema’s position in “the culture.” For me—and this will be the subject of further writing in 2025—I see filmmakers and critics wrestling with broader anxieties about the value of film (and art more generally) in an era of ongoing political and social uncertainty. The recurring “crisis on the periphery” is a theme I’ve noticed time and again in Western cinema this year.

Yet there has also been a wealth of remarkable work from across the globe. In our year-end episode, we revisit the films that stood out as the most formally captivating and innovative, as well as those that were contextually timely, thematically insightful, joyously entertaining, or evocative of the intangible profundity that elevates art towards transcendence.

Here’s part two of the show, which is free for everyone. Listen on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts:

For paid subscribers to Contrawise

I’ve uploaded part one of The Cinematologists top ten episodes, which is also available on The Cinematologists Patreon platform.

For paid subscribers, I’ve also created a list of my favourite film podcast episodes from the year, along with some thoughts on why they resonated with me.

In 2020, I wrote an essay for the Film-Philosophy journal about film podcasting and the concept of the “audio-cinematic.” This piece attempted to explore how podcasting, an “audio-only medium,” is able to capture the cinematic experience in innovative and engaging ways. (Yes, I realise that podcasts are now so frequently consumed on YouTube that they are understood by many as being both visual and audio. But as something of a purist, podcasting for me will always be fundamentally an audio experience.)

My central argument in the essay was that cinephiles who engage in podcasting use the dynamic nature of the medium to express their filmic imagination, memory, critical voice, and emotional affect. This is often achieved primarily through the voice, which serves as the conduit for conveying a cinephile’s sensibility. Conversation—between two (or more) enthusiasts—also plays a key role, as they explore, debate, and bond over a specific film.

But beyond the spoken word, editing and sound design, often incorporating clips from film soundtracks and dialogue, can create a certain resonance. This allows a podcast to transmit a deeply cinematic experience to an audience who are “in tune” with a cinephile sensibility.

Below, I outline my favourite 10 podcast episodes of 2024. These episodes evoke this sense of the audio-cinematic in unique ways. They also contribute to what I believe is the essential work of all film podcasts in the age of digital distraction: curating and enriching one’s practice of viewing.