Shea Cinema: The Best Picture Project

TLDR; Father/Daughter team watch and review all movies nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, starting back in 1927.

Welcome to Shea Cinema, The Best Picture Project!

Join host Sara Shea and her father, William Shea, as they watch and explore every film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Sara and Dad are recreating a project Sara assigned to her high school Film Studies students, which includes contextual historical research, discussing their personal responses to each film, what makes these films important, why these films need to be understood in context, and, finally, did the winner deserve the Oscar?

So grab your popcorn, pull up a chair, sit back and relax, and let's begin Shea Cinema.

All Episodes

Shea Cinema: The Best Picture Project

S3E1: 3rd Academy Awards, 1930

December 15, 2023 • Shea Cinema • Season 3 • Episode 1

Welcome to our Season 3 Premiere! Sara and Dad cover the 3rd Academy Awards ceremony (honoring the best in films between August 1, 1929 and July 31, 30). This awards was held only seven months after the 2nd awards. Movies during this era are considered “Pre-Code,” so we delve a bit into the Hays Production Code and the upcoming censorship challenges faced by filmmakers. Somehow we manage to discuss whether or not kissing on screen is indecent, and the guidelines of ancient Greek theater. Of course, we give an overview of the five films nominated for the top honor, and speculate on some of the controversial subjects covered in the upcoming films.

The Movies:

Disraeli (1929)
The Love Parade (1929)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
The Divorcee (1929)
The Big House

Please leave us a review wherever you are listening!
Email us rants as well as raves: sheacinema@gmail.com
You can also find us on Instagram (and now Twitter/X): @sheacinema