Voiceover: Movies that Move Us

What movies taught you about life? Showed you truths you didn’t know you needed to hear? Join Heather Bigley, a former academic and film teacher, and the host of Voiceover: Movies that Move Us—the podcast where films have an impact. Each episode, our guests share the cinematic moments that changed their lives. We want to learn from those silver screen experiences, and so we share those moments with you, looking at the films from a whole new perspective. With a Doctorate in Film Studies and a passion for storytelling, Heather brings a little history, a little philosophy, some behind-the-scenes know-how, and her whole life to the movies she watches. From Wild Strawberries to The Wiz, Terminator 2 to Tree of Life, we’re finding the films that moved us when we least expected it—golden age classics, recent blockbusters, and even the tiny indie film that barely anyone noticed. While Cosmo Brown might just want to Make ‘em Laugh, we’re interested in the films that make you cry, too. Movies that revealed something about ourselves. Mentored us when we needed mentorship. Maybe even illuminated the Divine. Join us for Voiceover: Movies that Move Us for cinematic epiphanies, reel recommends, and maybe some self-revelations. Don’t miss a moment. Subscribe to us now on BYUradio, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episodes

The Dark Knight: Good, Evil, & Chaos

August 4, 2025 • 37 mins

Kevin Blankinship discusses the evolution of The Batman and how The Dark Knight offers us blurred lines and shades of grey to better understand redemption. Kevin Blankinship is an expert in Arabic and the Middle East who has written and published widely. You can find his work, including his poetry, in the likes of Journal of Arabic Literature, New Lines Magazine, Lapham’s Quarterly, and the Los Angeles Review of Books.

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Bonus — Under the Banner of Heaven: LDS Representation

July 28, 2025 • 52 mins

Heather & Ian chat with McKay Coppins and Benjamin Park about the Hulu 2023 limited-series adapation of Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven.

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Contact: Translating the Unknown

July 21, 2025 • 35 mins

Becca Hurley Luong shares how Contact's message of peace and unity continues to teach her. Becca Hurley Luong is a linguist, writer, and comedian. She produces The Lisa Show and Council of Moms at BYUradio.

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Philomena: Forgiving the Past

July 14, 2025 • 47 mins

Producer Matthew Janzen shares Philomena, a film that challenges our perceptions of forgiveness and truth. Matthew Janzen is the Head of Film at ACE Entertainment, which produces Gen Z & Millenial feature films and tv series. Previously he was the Senior Vice President of Production & Development at Lionsgate.

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The Wiz: Finding Courage

July 7, 2025 • 39 mins

Robert Monson shares why this 1978 musical still resonates today and explores its themes of spirituality, community, and empowerment. Robert Monson is a writer, musician, and scholar that looks closely at Black and womanist theologies as well as Black disability theology. He is currently a PhD student and is a host for two podcasts: Black Coffee and Theology and Three Black Men: Theology, Culture, and the World Around Us.

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Bonus — Book of Clarence: Black Jesus at the Movies

June 30, 2025 • 50 mins

Multi-talent Danor Gerald joins Ian and me to work through Jeymes Samuel's 2024 Book of Clarence, a sword and sandal movie with an all-Black cast. What does this movie get right and why didn't it connect with Black audiences? Danor Gerald is an actor, director, writer, and producer, as well as the President of Monark Media, PC, and Chief Creative Officer at Brand One Media, llc. He also co-hosts and produces the award winning TV s...

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Bye Bye Tiberias: Mother & Daughters

June 23, 2025 • 38 mins

Cinema curator Marie-Laure Oscarson shares Bye Bye Tiberias (Lina Soualem, 2023) about the relationship of mother and daughter against the backdrop of war, displacement, exile, and autonomy. Marie-Laure Julien Oscarson is a native of France who has been living in Utah the last couple decades. She has always been a film enthusiast. She remembers learning English watching classic American films on TV. Marie-Laure graduated from Br...

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Beasts of the Southern Wild: Authentic Childhood

June 16, 2025 • 33 mins

Educator Evan Martin-Casler dives deep on childhood in the movies with a discussion of Ben Zeitlin's 2012 Beasts of the Southern Wild, a handmade movie that resulted in an Oscar nomination for six-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis. Stay tuned for more coming-of-age movie recs at the end! Evan Martin-Casler is teaching faculty at the University of Arizona and holds an MA from Tufts University in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Le...

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A Room with a View: Falling In Love

June 9, 2025 • 45 mins

Lisa Valentine Clark shares the romance A Room with A View.

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Bonus — Conclave: Catholic Representation

June 2, 2025 • 53 mins

Justin Petrisek of Notre Dame joins Ian and Heather to work through Edward Berger's 2024 Conclave, and how the film portrays Catholics, the papacy, and spiritual life.

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Dune 2: The Forks in the Road

May 26, 2025 • 39 mins

Heather teams up with In Good Faith host (and her boss!) Steven Kapp Perry for an examination of Denis Villeneuve's 2024 Dune 2.

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How Do You Know: Recovering Yourself

May 19, 2025 • 32 mins

Heather chats with sociologist Liberty Barnes about James L. Brooks' 2010 How Do You Know and how the film changed for her after she recovered from breast cancer. Listen to the end for more rom-com recommendations! Liberty Barnes, PhD, is a medical sociologist and ethnographer, whose first book, Conceiving Masculinity, won the 2015 Sociology of Health and Illness Book of the Year Prize. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the Un...

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Arrival: Approaching Joy

May 19, 2025 • 35 mins

Heather sits down with film professional Ian Puente from InTension Industries to discuss Denis Villeneuve's 2016 Arrival, and what the film has to say about spirituality and joy, as well as heptapods, language acquisition, and some familiar scriptures. Listen to the end for suggestions of other films you might like if Arrival is one of your favorites. Ian Puente as helped grow several independent film and television companies,...

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Wild Strawberries: Living a Worthy Life

May 19, 2025 • 36 mins

Heather zooms with film professor Sharon Swenson about Ingmar Berman's 1957 Wild Strawberries, the iconic Swedish film about reconsidering the life you've lived. Sharon also throws in a thought or two about why action films are under-valued and what makes Terminator 2 so awesome. Stay tuned for more recommends of films that consider what a life is for. Sharon Swenson spent 30 years teaching film at BYU and now teaches in the Un...

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TRAILER: Voiceover — Movies that Move Us

May 12, 2025 • 2 mins

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