MUBI Podcast

On the opening day of the World Cup, we take a look and a listen to the soccer-centric sleeper BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM (2002). Director Gurinder Chadha tells Rico about making her breakthrough rom-com about girl power, British Asian identity, and football—and how its mashup soundtrack of pop hits and Bhangra bangers scored goals of its own. Other guests include superstar DJ/producer Bally Sagoo, and the film's music supervisor L...

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 Cantonese cover of The Cranberries's hit "Dreams."

In this classic episode form our archives, host Rico Gagliano learns how the song, the director, and the singer all came together to capture Hong Kong at a moment of anxiety and hop...

Another classic episode about great music in a great movie: DONNIE DARKO. Richard Kelly's genre-busting rookie feature was one of the first cult hits of the 21st century... and it took the music of '80s band Tears for Fears along for the ride.

Host Rico Gagliano tells this twisty tale with the help of Kelly, star Jena Malone (THE HUNGER GAMES), and the film's composer Michael Andrews—whose stripped-down cover of Tears'...

While we polish up some brand-new episodes all about iconic movie needle-drops... we're resurfacing some classic episodes that tackled the same topic! Starting with this one, about the time Stanley Kubrick decided to score his sci-fi spectacular 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY with classical tracks — something he did against the advice of just about everybody, and to the detriment of at least two composers’ mental and physical he...

How'd a 1971 country-pop anthem about West Virginia... inspire a 1995 anime classic about teens in Tokyo? We kick off a season about great movie needle-drops with the tale of WHISPER OF THE HEART — the anime that helped drive John Denver's "Take Me Home Country Roads" into Japanese culture. Guests include the song's co-writer Bill Danoff, plus rare interviews with Studio Ghibli cofounder Toshio Suzuki and his daughter Mamiko ...

Akinola Davies Jr. never really knew his dad. But in MY FATHER’S SHADOW, his BAFTA-winning debut feature set in 90s Nigeria, the director imagines what it would be like to spend the day with him. Akinola tells guest host Simran Hans how he recreated his own hazy childhood memories, and about his ingenious methods for getting a pair of remarkable performances from two young kids who had never acted on screen before.

MY FATHER'S...

The Best Picture–nominated thriller THE SECRET AGENT tells a tale of intrigue and absurdity in ’70s Brazil. Director Kleber Mendonça Filho (PICTURES OF GHOSTS) and star Wagner Moura (CIVIL WAR) give Rico a primer on the real politics behind the film’s surreal moments… and hep him to the “manguebeat” music that rocked their world.

THE SECRET AGENT is now showing in cinemas and is coming soon to MU...

Alex Russell just won 2 Independent Spirit awards for LURKER - his debut thriller about a superfan wheedling his way into a pop star's orbit.  Alex tells Rico about his own experiences running with that kinda crowd... and what his twisted tale has in common with a certain kids' baseball movie.

LURKER is now streaming on MUBI in the US and Canada. 

To stream some of the films we've covered on the podcast, check out the colle...

Joachim Trier, co-writer Eskil Vogt, and an all-star cast including Stellan Skarsgård, Renate Reinsve, Elle Fanning, and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas talk about the making and meaning of SENTIMENTAL VALUE — the multiple-Oscar-nominated juggernaut about a filmmaker whose daughters grapple with the ways his art intersects with their messy real lives. In this special episode, Rico learns about how the movie echoes in the filmmakers&r...

Our New Year’s gift to you: Filmmaking legend Wim Wenders returns to the show for a career-spanning interview. Taped before a live audience in his home city of Berlin, Germany, he tells Rico how classics like Wings of Desire (1987), Paris, Texas (1984), and more were informed by his love of rock n’ roll, riding the rails, and cinema itself.

PINA is now streaming in the US and PERFECT DAYS is now streaming in the UK, Irel...

Legendary director Mira Nair and Cannes-winner Ritesh Batra made two very different hit films about very different sides of India's fabled food delivery system. Batra tells Rico about the romance of dabbawallas, while Nair remembers the mean streets of Mumbai's chaiwallas (and what she serves her son Zohran Mamdani at home).

Just in time for holiday eat-a-thons, the award-winning MUBI Podcast is back and celebrating its tenth season...

The NYTimes just named Kelly Reichardt's THE MASTERMIND one of the top 10 films of 2025... and in this episode she looks back on the career that led up to it. From her debut RIVERS OF GRASS to the Oscar-nominated MEEK'S CUTOFF and beyond, it’s a trip through the indie wilds with one of America's best filmmakers — taped before a live audience at MUBIFest Berlin.

THE MASTERMIND is now streaming exclusively on MUBI almost g...

Director David Gelb’s documentary about a tiny, austere sushi joint and its perfectionist chef defined a food-film style... and set off an international omakase craze. Gelb tells Rico the story, and also how he gets his kids to eat escargot (or at least try it).

Just in time for holiday eat-a-thons, the award-winning MUBI Podcast is back and celebrating its tenth season with a four-course serving of stories about food on film....

Sibling duo Hal and Harper are best friends, and have been ever since they lost their mother as children. But is there such a thing as being too close? And when your family is your life raft, what does it look like to let go? Cooper Raiff, the writer, director and star of the TV series HAL & HARPER tells guest host Simran Hans why he had to get Lili Reinhart to play his big sister, and how he summoned his inner 7 year old to pl...

Ex-NYTimes columnist and bestselling cookbook writer Alison Roman (SOMETHING FROM NOTHING) talks with Rico about the tropes of fictional film chefs, and how the dreamy Cannes-winner THE TASTE OF THINGS quietly roasts them over a spit.

Just in time for holiday eat-a-thons, the award-winning MUBI Podcast is back and celebrating its tenth season with a four-course serving of stories about food on film. Titled "A Feast For The Eyes," th...

The animated classic about an adorbs rat chef… spent nearly 7 years in the oven. Director Brad Bird (THE IRON GIANT) and producer Brad Lewis (ANTZ) tell Rico the whole multi-course saga, including gut-busting tales of Michelin-starred “research” meals that were so good they hurt.

Just in time for holiday eat-a-thons, the award-winning MUBI Podcast is back and celebrating its tenth season with a four-course serving...

In DIE MY LOVE, new mother Grace (a virtuosic Jennifer Lawrence) is stuck at home while her disinterested husband Jackson (Robert Pattinson) is at work. With only her baby, a barking dog, and her own thoughts to keep her company, she begins to unravel. Visionary writer-director Lynne Ramsay talks to guest host Simran Hans about her feral, frightening, and funny portrait of a woman on the brink.

DIE MY LOVE is now playing in theaters...

Istanbul is home to some great filmmakers trying to speak truth to power... in a country where the power is less and less willing to let them. Host Rico Gagliano talks with two of the best — Emin Alper (BURNING) and Özcan Alper (AUTUMN) — about making art with a censor over your shoulder. He also takes a tour of Istanbul's historic cinemas... and is there to witness a dark day in Turkish politics.

Part travelogue, part d...

Joe Wright's known for Oscar-winning WWII epics like DARKEST HOUR. But his latest look at the era is a different animal: The nightmarish series MUSSOLINI: SON OF THE CENTURY, about the rise of the godfather of fascism. Joe tells host Rico Gagliano about the Italian dictator, the echoes he sees in politics today... and why he spent his own teen years blasting '30s pop tunes.

MUSSOLINI: SON OF THE CENTURY is now streaming on MUBI in t...