Last year, Hollywood Suite debuted its excellent documentary series A Year in Film. The program, divided up into the features that were made during a certain year in history, explores how movies reflect the events, mood, politics, and culture of their time.

Now the curtain has been pulled back on Season 2, digging deep into the films that hit screens in 1975, 1986, 1994 and 2000.

A Year in Film: 1994, debuting Sunday, December 20, at 9 p.m. Eastern on Hollywood Suite 90s Movies—the Hollywood Suite channels are available in a free preview all month—explores the stories behind some real heavy-hitters in the genre.

Set amid cultural touchstones like Nelson Mandela’s presidential election, the 1994 version of Woodstock, the debut of Friends, the OJ Simpson car chase, the attack on Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan and the death of Kurt Cobain were the debut of blockbuster and indie films that resonated with the public. The Lion King, The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, Natural Born Killers, Clerks, Reality Bites, Speed, True Lies and a trio of Jim Carrey flicks—Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask and Dumb and Dumber—captured eyeballs.

In Canada, Canadian filmmakers gained notoriety with hits like Double Happiness and Exotica.

As with Season 1 of A Year in Film, film critics and experts like Cameron Maitland, Alicia Fletcher, Radheyan Simonpillai and Adam Nayman explain society and cinema from the time.

A Year in Film: 1994 airs Sunday, December 20, at 9 p.m. Eastern on Hollywood Suite 90s Movies. A Year in Film: 2000 debuts Sunday, December 27, at 9 p.m. ET on Hollywood Suite 2000s Movies (HS00).

Image courtesy of Hollywood Suite.

I was seven years old in 1978. The year before, Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind had rocked my world, leaving an indelible mark and cementing my love of movie theatres.

But back to 1978, when films like Days of Heaven, Dawn of the Dead, The Deer Hunter and Saturday Night Fever came out. I was too young to watch any of them then—but since have, many ironically on Hollywood Suite—but they left equally important marks on those who saw them in a darkened cinema. Now, thanks to Hollywood Suite—and its first-ever original series—the movies of that year are celebrated.

A Year in Film: 1978, debuting Friday at 9 p.m. ET on Hollywood Suite 70s—all of the Hollywood Suite channels are in a free preview this month—explores those movies while also giving background into what was happening in the world at that time. In 1978, there was a lot, including three popes, serial killer culture and the height of disco.

There to help explain society, and cinema in 1978, are Hollywood Suite film and content specialist Cameron Maitland, Drunken Cinema’s Serena Whitney, author and film critic Geoff Pevere, Brendan Ross and film curator and historian Alicia Fletcher. They break down why a movie like Grease existed in the first place, the height of John Travolta and Saturday Night Fever and Thank God It’s Friday. They also analyze how The Deer Hunter and Coming Home explored the impact of the Vietnam War, how groundbreaking Halloween and Girlfriends really were and how Canadian tax shelters led to The Silent Partner, starring Christopher Plummer, being made.

Each half-hour episode is informative and educational, and really helped me understand why these films were made in the first place, and how they influenced those to come.

Future instalments include A Year in Film: 1978 with Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, The Big Chill, Videodrome and The Dead Zone; A Year in Film: 1992 with El Mariachi, Reservoir Dogs, Malcolm X and Wayne’s World; and A Year in Film: 2007 featuring There Will Be Blood, Zodiac, No Country For Old Men, Juno and Away From Her.

A Year in Film: 1978 airs Friday at 9 p.m. ET on Hollywood Suite 70s Movies. A Year in Film: 1983 debuts Friday, Dec. 15 at 9 p.m. ET on Hollywood Suite 80s Movies. A Year in Film: 1992 debuts Friday, Dec. 22 at 9 p.m. ET on Hollywood Suite 90s Movies. A Year in Film: 2007 debuts Friday, Dec. 29 at 9 p.m. ET on Hollywood Suite 00s Movies.

Image courtesy of Hollywood Suite.