

MUBI Podcast
MUBI
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
Episodes
Mentioned books

Dec 8, 2022 • 20min
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 thriller-romance DECISION TO LEAVE.In this special episode of the award-winning MUBI Podcast, Park tells host Rico Gagliano about the song's influence on the film, unveils the musical inspiration for a possible future project...and explains why his action sequences always seem to leave his characters breathless.DECISION TO LEAVE is showing in select US and UK cinemas, and will stream exclusively on MUBI starting December 9th in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, India and Turkey.To give the gift of great cinema, visit https://mubi.com/giftsMUBI is a global streaming service, production company and film distributor. A place to discover and watch beautiful, interesting, incredible films. A new hand-picked film arrives on MUBI, every single day. From iconic directors, to emerging auteurs. All carefully chosen by MUBI’s curators.

Aug 11, 2022 • 31min
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 building with roots that go back even further.Host Rico Gagliano speaks to folks around the world about the wild glory days of Zanzibar's cinema culture, why it's now on the brink of extinction...and then takes hope from an itinerant film programmer 6000 miles away in Amsterdam. Featuring celebrated documentarian Nick Broomfield (KURT & COURTNEY, MARIANNE & LEONARD: WORDS OF LOVE).The second season of the MUBI Podcast titled “Only in Theaters” tells surprising stories of individual cinemas that had huge impacts on film history, and in some cases, history in general.To stream some of the films we've covered on the podcast, check out the collection Featured on the MUBI Podcast. Availability of films varies depending on your country.MUBI is a global streaming service, production company and film distributor. A place to discover and watch beautiful, interesting, incredible films. A new hand-picked film arrives on MUBI, every single day. Cinema from across the world. From iconic directors, to emerging auteurs. All carefully chosen by MUBI’s curators.And with MUBI GO, members in select countries can get a hand-picked cinema ticket every single week, to see the best new films in real cinemas. To learn more, visit mubi.com/go

Aug 4, 2022 • 1h 12min
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 share this discussion between Tilda Swinton and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.Swinton and Weerasethakul reunited in Colombia for MEMORIA's release and talked about the importance of understanding that you’re not in control and how cinema is an attempt to put what’s inside one’s head on screen, something they achieved through sound.This conversation touches on the creative process of two of film’s greatest names while working together on the film, which was an intimate collaboration founded on their long friendship.For the world-renowned Thai artist and film director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the topics of dreams and death are essential to his filmography. His style raises big questions about time and our relationship with the spiritual world. Winner of the Cannes Palme d'Or in 2012 for UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES, Weerasethakul returned to the main competition years later with MEMORIA, his first film shot outside of Thailand, which received the Jury Prize (ex-aequo).The Scottish artist, actress, and producer Tilda Swinton began her career performing and collaborating with experimental filmmaker Derek Jarman. She has worked with directors such as Jim Jarmusch, Wes Anderson, Luca Guadagnino, the Coen brothers, and Joanna Hogg. Her performances have been characterized by the subtlety of her gestures and her magnetic presence. In 2007, she won the Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for the movie MICHAEL CLAYTON. She has combined her acting in major Hollywood productions with a wide range of characters created by contemporary filmmakers such as Bong Joon-ho, Pedro Almodóvar, Lynne Ramsay, and more recently, Apichatpong Weerasethakul.This special release is in English, but if you are a Spanish-speaker, we encourage you to subscribe to MUBI Podcast: Encuentros on your favorite podcast app. The show is produced in partnership with La Corriente del Golfo. Listen here: lacorrientedelgolfo.net/podcast/encuentrosMEMORIA releases exclusively on MUBI this Friday, August 5 in Latin America, India, Turkey, Italy, Germany, and many other countries. Watch the film here: mubi.com/films/memoria-2021MUBI is a global streaming service, production company and film distributor. A place to discover and watch beautiful, interesting, incredible films. A new hand-picked film arrives on MUBI, every single day. Cinema from across the world. From iconic directors, to emerging auteurs. All carefully chosen by MUBI’s curators.

Jul 28, 2022 • 34min
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 few theaters on Earth can safely screen nitrate prints...and only one has an annual festival dedicated to the format: The George Eastman Museum's Dryden Theatre in Rochester, New York with its Nitrate Picture Show.To understand why it's important to screen these original treasures in an age of digital — and the incredible effort it takes to pull it off — Rico Gagliano travels both sides of the Atlantic, from the Dryden's fortified projection booth to the British Film Institute's nitrate holding vaults.The second season of the MUBI Podcast titled “Only in Theaters” tells surprising stories of individual cinemas that had huge impacts on film history, and in some cases, history in general.After listening, check out our coverage of the sixth annual Nitrate Picture Show, which took place earlier this month. Read Joshua Bogatin’s article on this year’s edition here.To stream some of the films we've covered on the podcast, check out the collection Featured on the MUBI Podcast. Availability of films varies depending on your country.MUBI is a global streaming service, production company and film distributor. A place to discover and watch beautiful, interesting, incredible films. A new hand-picked film arrives on MUBI, every single day. Cinema from across the world. From iconic directors, to emerging auteurs. All carefully chosen by MUBI’s curators.And with MUBI GO, members in select countries can get a hand-picked cinema ticket every single week, to see the best new films in real cinemas. To learn more, visit mubi.com/go

Jul 21, 2022 • 42min
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 Steve McQueen.Host Rico Gagliano learns the wild, seedy, and ultimately poignant history of what John Waters called, "A country club for lunatics." Special guests include directors Mary Harron (AMERICAN PSYCHO), Peter Strickland (BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO) and Prano Bailey-Bond (CENSOR), plus film producer and Scala founder Stephen Woolley (MONA LISA, THE CRYING GAME), and Financial Times film critic Danny Leigh.The second season of the MUBI Podcast titled “Only in Theaters” tells surprising stories of individual cinemas that had huge impacts on film history, and in some cases, history in general.To stream some of the films we've covered on the podcast, check out the collection Featured on the MUBI Podcast. Availability of films varies depending on your country.MUBI is a global streaming service, production company and film distributor. A place to discover and watch beautiful, interesting, incredible films. A new hand-picked film arrives on MUBI, every single day. Cinema from across the world. From iconic directors, to emerging auteurs. All carefully chosen by MUBI’s curators.And with MUBI GO, members in select countries can get a hand-picked cinema ticket every single week, to see the best new films in real cinemas. To learn more, visit mubi.com/go

Jul 14, 2022 • 38min
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 audience...and helped turn it into one of the biggest cult hits of all time.Host Rico Gagliano gets the story from HAROLD AND MAUDE producer Charles Mulvehill — one of the few living members of the film's creative team — and an endearing cast of local characters who, back in 1972, found themselves part of a one-in-a-million phenomenon.To celebrate our new season of the podcast, we’re partnering with the American Cinematheque to present a screening of the new 4k restoration of HAROLD & MAUDE on Saturday July 16th at Los Angeles’s Los Feliz Theatre. Rico Gagliano and Amy Nicholson of the movie podcast “Unspooled” will attend for an in-person pre-screening discussion about the movie and this season. For more details, check out the American Cinematheque’s website here.The second season of the MUBI Podcast titled “Only in Theaters” tells surprising stories of individual cinemas that had huge impacts on film history, and in some cases, history in general.To stream some of the films we've covered on the podcast, check out the collection Featured on the MUBI Podcast. Availability of films varies depending on your country.MUBI is a global streaming service, production company and film distributor. A place to discover and watch beautiful, interesting, incredible films. A new hand-picked film arrives on MUBI, every single day. Cinema from across the world. From iconic directors, to emerging auteurs. All carefully chosen by MUBI’s curators.And with MUBI GO, members in select countries can get a hand-picked cinema ticket every single week, to see the best new films in real cinemas. To learn more, visit mubi.com/go

Jul 7, 2022 • 37min
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 was "too heavy to be shown any other way." The movie was Alejandro Jodorowsky's EL TOPO, and it'd kick off the "Midnite Movie" craze that changed moviegoing.Hear the history of the Elgin Theater and its legendary, weed-soaked screenings of EL TOPO, featuring commentary from ex-Voice critic J Hoberman, Amy Nicholson of the podcast "Unspooled," ex-Elgin programmers Chuck Zlatkin and Steve Gould...and Jodorowsky himself.The second season of the MUBI Podcast titled “Only in Theaters” tells surprising stories of individual cinemas that had huge impacts on film history, and in some cases, history in general.To stream some of the films we've covered on the podcast, check out the collection Featured on the MUBI Podcast. Availability of films varies depending on your country.MUBI is a global streaming service, production company and film distributor. A place to discover and watch beautiful, interesting, incredible films. A new hand-picked film arrives on MUBI, every single day. Cinema from across the world. From iconic directors, to emerging auteurs. All carefully chosen by MUBI’s curators.And with MUBI GO, members in select countries can get a hand-picked cinema ticket every single week, to see the best new films in real cinemas. To learn more, visit mubi.com/go

Jun 30, 2022 • 42min
The Cinémathèque Française launches two revolutions
In 1940s France, a little 50-seat cinema opened that would launch one revolution on international movie screens...and arguably a second one in the streets of Paris. Host Rico Gagliano delves into the wild history of the Cinémathèque Française and its legendary founder, Henri Langlois.Featuring interviews with directors Barbet Schroeder (BARFLY, REVERSAL OF FORTUNE) and Luc Moullet (BRIGITTE ET BRIGITTE), plus New Yorker writer Louis Menand, Amy Nicholson of the podcast "Unspooled" and many more.The second season of the MUBI Podcast titled “Only in Theaters” tells surprising stories of individual cinemas that had huge impacts on film history, and in some cases, history in general.After listening, check out an extended interview with Barbet Schroeder in the latest “MUBI Podcast: Expanded” piece. The filmmaker dives deeper into memories of the French New Wave, talks about his Oscar-winning film REVERSAL OF FORTUNE, and recalls working with Pink Floyd in the late ‘60s. Read the article here.To stream some of the films we've covered on the podcast, check out the collection Featured on the MUBI Podcast. Availability of films varies depending on your country. MUBI is a global streaming service, production company and film distributor. A place to discover and watch beautiful, interesting, incredible films. A new hand-picked film arrives on MUBI, every single day. Cinema from across the world. From iconic directors, to emerging auteurs. All carefully chosen by MUBI’s curators.And with MUBI GO, members in select countries can get a hand-picked cinema ticket every single week, to see the best new films in real cinemas. To learn more, visit mubi.com/go

May 5, 2022 • 22min
In LINGUI, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun honors women's "invisible resistance"
On this special episode, host Rico Gagliano talks to Cannes-winning filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun about his latest film LINGUI, THE SACRED BONDS — the story of a mother trying to secure an abortion for her daughter...in Chad, a country where abortion is illegal. Haroun opens up about the movie's real-life inspirations, the collective power of women, and about his homeland's last remaining movie theater — the palace where he learned to tell stories.LINGUI, THE SACRED BONDS is now streaming exclusively on MUBI in the UK, US, and many other countries.Subscribe on your preferred podcast app to stay tuned for more special episodes and the upcoming second season of the show.MUBI is a global streaming service, production company and film distributor. A place to discover and watch beautiful, interesting, incredible films. A new hand-picked film arrives on MUBI, every single day. From iconic directors, to emerging auteurs. All carefully chosen by MUBI’s curators.

Apr 1, 2022 • 25min
Joachim Trier sympathizes with THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD
In this special episode, acclaimed filmmaker Joachim Trier tells host Rico Gagliano about how and why he made his tender look at messy modern romance, THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD—from constructing its Oscar-nominated screenplay to casting his star Renate Reinsve (who went on to win Best Actress at Cannes for the role). He also reflects on the dangers of nostalgia and then indulges in some of his own, looking back on the movies—and movie theaters—that shaped him.THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD is now showing in select UK cinemas and will exclusively stream on MUBI in the UK, Ireland, India, and Turkey starting May 13, 2022.Subscribe to stay tuned for more special episodes and Season 2.MUBI is a global streaming service, production company and film distributor. A place to discover and watch beautiful, interesting, incredible films. A new hand-picked film arrives on MUBI, every single day. From iconic directors, to emerging auteurs. All carefully chosen by MUBI’s curators.