MUBI Podcast
The MUBI Podcast is an audio documentary series about how great cinema happens, and why it matters. Every season’s a deep dive into a different corner of movie culture — from classic needle drops, to movie theaters that changed the world. Plus, between seasons: intimate interviews with some of the best filmmakers alive. Nominated for multiple Webbys, Ambies, and British Podcast Awards. Hosted by veteran arts journalist Rico Gagliano. “It’s like This American Life for filmmaking stories” — Matt Wallin
- Update frequency
- every 14 days
- Average duration
- 29 minutes
- Episodes
- 71
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
Cannes Conversations — Weston Razooli lets his kids go wild
L.A. filmmaker Weston Razooli’s debut feature RIDDLE OF FIRE is like if THE GOONIES were directed by Francois Truffaut — a tale of three modern kids on an old-fashioned adventure in the woods, facing…
Cannes Conversations — Monia Chokri on THE NATURE OF LOVE
Quebecois actor and director Monia Chokri is a Cannes regular — who in her films, regularly returns to her favorite themes: Very smart women having a very hard time figuring out relationships. Host R…
Cannes Conversations — Kleber Mendonça Filho watches movie palaces disappear
In 2019, Brazil's Kleber Mendonça Filho won the Jury Prize at Cannes with his co-directed movie BACURAU. This year he returned to the fest to premiere a documentary about movies. Or more specifical…
Cannes Conversations — Wim Wenders on ANSELM
To kick off our mini-season of conversations taped on location at the 2023 Cannes film festival, host Rico Gagliano meets up with legendary director Wim Wenders (Buena Vista Social Club; Paris, Texas…
FERRIS BUELLER to WOLF OF WALL STREET — Cinema's top music supervisors break down their greatest hits
We wrap up our season on great needle drops with an interview mixtape. Host Rico Gagliano talks to three legendary music supervisors about their iconic pairings of music and image...a bunch of which …
BLACKBOARD JUNGLE — Hollywood's first rumble with rock ‘n’ roll
In his gritty ’55 flick BLACKBOARD JUNGLE, director Richard Brooks introduced a wide audience to Sidney Poitier, the harsh world of inner-city schools...and a genre of music called "rock ‘n’ roll."
Ho…
CHUNGKING EXPRESS — Wong Kar Wai puts "Dreams" on the menu
Shot on a shoestring in six wild weeks, CHUNGKING EXPRESS is the movie that put legendary Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai on the international map—along with his star, pop diva Faye Wong...and her C…
CLOSE — Lukas Dhont's Quietly Powerful Coming-of-Age Movie
In his Oscar-nominated CLOSE, filmmaker Lukas Dhont uses the sparest dialogue, the gentlest music, and the most pastoral of images...to tell a shattering story about the brutal ways society turns boy…
THE HARDER THEY COME — Reggae catches fire on film
In 1972, director Perry Henzell set a gritty crime thriller in Jamaica's exploding, politically charged music scene, and came up with THE HARDER THEY COME—the cult-movie spark that started reggae mu…
DONNIE DARKO — Richard Kelly makes the ultimate ‘80s mixtape
In 2001, writer/director Richard Kelly's genre-busting rookie feature DONNIE DARKO crashed and burned at the box office. But it almost immediately rose from the ashes to become one of the first cult …
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY — Stanley Kubrick finds heavenly music on vinyl
In 1968, Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi epic 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY pushed movies light years into the future. It pioneered the use of special effects, makeup, sound design…and needle drops.
For the season d…
With TÁR, Todd Field makes a power play
The multiple-Oscar-nominated psychodrama TÁR is the story of a compulsive, privileged leader who abuses her power. In this special episode of the MUBI Podcast, writer/director Todd Field tells host R…
In AFTERSUN, Charlotte Wells lets Queen and Bowie tell the story
Charlotte Wells's wildly acclaimed feature-length debut AFTERSUN follows a father and daughter on a vacation where much is implied but little is said...unless you listen close to the soundtrack.
In th…
Park Chan-wook finds DECISION TO LEAVE in “The Mist”
In 1972, a lush pop ballad called "The Mist" swirled out of radios all over South Korea. Fifty years later, master auteur Park Chan-wook has taken it as the main inspiration for his celebrated new th…
Zanzibar's Majestic, the last cinema standing (feat. Nick Broomfield)
"Only in Theaters" concludes with the cautionary tale of the Majestic. Africa's island region of Zanzibar used to be movie crazy — but today just one cinema remains: The Majestic, a 1950s-era buildin…
Being Like Water: Tilda Swinton and Apichatpong Weerasethakul on MEMORIA
This week, we have a special bonus episode courtesy of our Latin American podcast MUBI Podcast: Encuentros. To celebrate the exclusive release of MEMORIA on MUBI in many countries, we're excited to s…
The Dryden Theatre's Nitrate Picture Show explodes our view of movie history
For the first half-century of cinema, most movies were made and printed on nitrate film. Problem: it easily decomposes, it's easily combustible, and once it's on fire, you can't put it out. Only a f…
London's Scala Cinema becomes "A country club for lunatics" (feat. Mary Harron and Peter Strickland)
In the grey Thatcher-era England of the '80s, a romantically dilapidated London movie palace called The Scala beckoned to England's subcultures — and influenced filmmakers from Christopher Nolan to S…
HAROLD AND MAUDE find new life at The Westgate
Hal Ashby's HAROLD AND MAUDE debuted to generally poor reviews, and worse box office. But in suburban Minneapolis, a humble second-run neighborhood theater called The Westgate found the film an audi…
The Elgin and EL TOPO plunge NYC into "Midnite Madness"
In 1970, a scruffy repertory theater — led by the visionary Ben Barenholtz — quietly placed a print ad in the Village Voice, advertising midnight screenings of a Spanish-language western they claimed…