

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

Feb 10, 2022 • 15min
In Andrea Arnold’s COW, audiences find themselves
The MUBI Podcast returns this week with a special episode. Host Rico Gagliano speaks with Oscar-winning filmmaker Andrea Arnold (AMERICAN HONEY, FISH TANK) about COW — her gripping debut documentary chronicling the life of a single dairy cow.In the interview, Arnold opens up about the deeply personal interpretations audiences have brought to the nearly dialogue-free film, and how making it has affected her own interactions with creatures great and small.Fresh off receiving a BAFTA nomination for “Best Documentary”, COW is now showing in select UK cinemas and will be exclusively streaming on MUBI starting February 11th in many countries, including the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Turkey, Italy, India, Latin America & more. MUBI is also featuring a series of Arnold's shorts, including the Oscar-winning WASP. IFC Films is the film's US distributor and has plans for an April theatrical release. MUBI's series will be timed in the US with this April release. If available in your country, you can stream the film exclusively on MUBI here and the series here. Subscribe to stay tuned for more bonus 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.

Jul 8, 2021 • 33min
China builds itself a DREAM FACTORY
China’s Lunar New Year movie season is like America’s summer blockbuster season… on steroids. And it got that way thanks to THE DREAM FACTORY — a wry 1997 comedy directed by Feng Xiaogang, who’d come to be known as “the Chinese Spielberg.” Host Rico Gagliano gets a crash course on the movie from experts on Chinese cinema, including City University of New York’s Ying Zhu and UCLA’s Michael Berry. Our first season, titled “Lost in Translation,” spotlights movies that were massive cultural phenomena in one country, but nowhere else. With episodes spanning nearly every continent, tune in weekly to discover unique film stories from around the globe.Each episode, we publish a complementary piece in a new series called “MUBI Podcast Expanded.” This week, we have an article by film professor Ying Zhu, building on her commentary featured in this episode about Feng Xiaogang's THE DREAM FACTORY and Chinese New Year comedies. Read the article here.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.

Jul 1, 2021 • 37min
From Mexico with love: The Soviet Union embraces YESENIA
The biggest box office hit in the history of the Soviet Union was an early 1970s Mexican romance so obscure in its home country that even many experts on the era haven’t heard of it. Host Rico Gagliano talks with several who have, including esteemed cinema historian Ian Christie, Concordia University’s Masha Salazkina, and actress Emoé de la Parra, the daughter of the hugely successful author Yolanda Vargas Dulché behind the comic book and telenovela on which the film was based.Our first season, titled “Lost in Translation,” spotlights movies that were massive cultural phenomena in one country, but nowhere else. With episodes spanning nearly every continent, tune in weekly to discover unique film stories from around the globe.Each episode, we publish a complementary piece in a new series called “MUBI Podcast Expanded.” This week, film professor and historian Masha Salazkina adds to her commentary featured in this episode, discussing her love for international films growing up in the Soviet Union in the late 70s and early 80s. Read the article here.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.

Jun 24, 2021 • 37min
LIVING IN BONDAGE fast-forwards the Nigerian film industry
One of the world’s most prolific film industries was founded on the success of a direct-to-video film distributed on VHS cassettes. Host Rico Gagliano learns the history of LIVING IN BONDAGE — the indie project that launched Nigeria’s “Nollywood.” Featuring interviews with the movie’s writer/producer Okey Ogunjiofor and director Chris Obi-Rapu.Our first season, titled “Lost in Translation,” spotlights movies that were massive cultural phenomena in their home countries, but nowhere else. With episodes spanning nearly every continent, tune in weekly to discover unique film stories from around the globe.Each episode, we publish a complementary piece in a new series called “MUBI Podcast Expanded.” This week, film critic and culture writer Derin Ajao expands on her commentary featured in the episode, examining this monumental film’s influence in the early days of Nollywood and its recent 2019 sequel LIVING IN BONDAGE: BREAKING FREE. Read the article here.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.

Jun 17, 2021 • 39min
Brazil dances the (metaphorical) samba with DONA FLOR AND HER TWO HUSBANDS
In the mid-70s, in the midst of a military dictatorship, a Brazilian filmmaker barely out of his teens brought a beloved magical realist story about food, sex and happy compromises to the screen... and nearly blew JAWS out of Brazil’s box office waters. Featuring interviews with the film’s director Bruno Barreto and Kleber Mendonça Filho, co-director of the Cannes-winning BACURAU.Our first season, titled “Lost in Translation,” spotlights movies that were massive cultural phenomena in their home countries, but nowhere else. With episodes spanning nearly every continent, tune in weekly to discover unique film stories from around the globe.Each episode, we publish a complementary piece in MUBI's online film magazine Notebook in a new series called “MUBI Podcast Expanded.” This week, you can check out Rico's extended interview with director Bruno Barreto, where he discusses his love for John Ford, Pietro Germi and Francois Truffaut and shares more behind-the-scenes details about the making of DONA FLOR AND HER TWO HUSBANDS. Read the article here.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.

Jun 10, 2021 • 39min
India's 25-year (and counting) marriage to DDLJ
The longest-running film in Bollywood history, 1995's DILWALE DULHANIA LE JAYENGE (aka DDLJ) caught the imagination of a country in transition and practically created a new Bollywood subgenre. Rico gets the inside story of its creation and legacy from DDLJ co-star Anupam Kher, costume designer Manish Malhotra, and critic Anupama Chopra — who literally wrote the book on this classic rom-com.Our first season, titled “Lost in Translation,” spotlights movies that were massive cultural phenomena in their home countries, but nowhere else. With episodes spanning nearly every continent, tune in weekly to discover unique film stories from around the globe.Each episode, we publish a complementary piece in MUBI's online film magazine Notebook in a new series called “MUBI Podcast Expanded.” This week, Anupama Chopra shares an excerpt from her comprehensive book on this landmark Bollywood film DDLJ: A Modern Classic. Read the article here.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.

Jun 3, 2021 • 39min
Paul Verhoeven’s TURKISH DELIGHT ignites the Netherlands
To get a deeper idea of what makes his favorite country tick, Rico dives into Paul Verhoeven’s wild sophomore feature TURKISH DELIGHT — the biggest home-grown box office hit in the history of the Netherlands. Featuring interviews with Verhoeven himself, cinematographer Jan de Bont, and star Monique Van De Ven.Our first season, titled “Lost in Translation,” spotlights movies that were massive cultural phenomena in their home countries, but nowhere else. With episodes spanning nearly every continent, tune in weekly to discover unique film stories from around the globe.Each episode, we publish a complementary piece in MUBI's online film magazine Notebook in a new series called “MUBI Podcast Expanded.” This week, Dutch film critic Dana Linssen builds on her commentary in this episode, sharing her personal connection to TURKISH DELIGHT while diving deep into ideas of toxic love and Dutch culture. Read the article here.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.

May 25, 2021 • 2min
MUBI Podcast: Season One Trailer
Coming soon. The MUBI Podcast. Subscribe now and tune in June 3.Hosted by Rico Gagliano, the first season of the MUBI Podcast focuses on movies that have great importance in their home country, but are lesser known by international audiences and critics.We begin with the unlikely tale of Paul Verhoeven’s infamous second feature TURKISH DELIGHT and its unique significance during the counterculture movement in 1970s Holland. Featuring exclusive interviews with Paul Verhoeven, Monique van de Ven, and Jan de Bont.Future episodes will cover film stories from around the globe, including the longest-running film in the history of Indian cinema, a Mexican film that became the biggest movie in the Soviet Union, and the micro-budget feature shot on video that sparked the modern Nigerian film industry.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.