MUBI is launching a new podcast with a Paul Verhoeven exclusive interview to launch series

MUBI has announced the launch of its first original podcast, MUBI Podcast, which will be hosted by arts and travel reporter Rico Gagliano (The Wall Street Journal, The Dinner Party Download). The documentary-style podcast will be available on all major podcast platforms and on MUBI’s online publication Notebook. New episodes will be released weekly starting on June 3, with a total of six episodes in the first season.

Season one, titled “Lost in Translation”, will focus on films that have great importance in their home country, but are lesser-known by international audiences and critics. MUBI Podcast will cover nearly every continent with each episode exploring a different film and country, providing a window into cinema cultures around the world. The unique stories behind the films will be brought to life with movie clips, music, and original interviews with filmmakers, critics, academics, and historians. Listen to the trailer for Season One here.

Daniel Kasman, VP of Content, MUBI commented, “After years of showcasing great cinema on MUBI and covering film culture through our digital magazine, Notebook, I’m thrilled for us to expand into the audio space to explore the world of cinema in new ways. Rico’s a terrific host and it’s been great conceptualizing such a fun subject and a surprising slate of guests. I know our audiences will be delighted.”

Host Rico Gagliano said, “For my entire career as an audio journalist, I’ve been fascinated by the arts and travel. To bring them together with MUBI, and learn about world cultures through the lens of cinema, is basically a dream come true.”

The pilot episode will look at Paul Verhoeven’s second feature Turkish Delight (1973). While one of Verhoeven’s lesser-known films to international audiences, it remains the most well-attended domestic film in the history of the Netherlands and was named the greatest Dutch film of the 20th century by the Netherlands Film Festival. The episode will cover the film’s unique significance during the counterculture movement in 1970s Holland and features exclusive interviews with Paul Verhoeven, Monique van de Ven, and Jan de Bont, amongst others.

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 Podcast host Rico Gagliano has been an audio creator for almost two decades. A graduate of the American Film Institute, he reported around the world for the popular public radio business program “Marketplace,” before co-creating, co-hosting, and co-producing “The Dinner Party Download”— an arts-and-culture podcast and radio show that was broadcast on nearly 200 public radio stations and downloaded over 30 million times. His award-winning interviews for the show included conversations with legendary filmmakers from D.A. Pennebaker to Jordan Peele.

Rico writes frequently about travel for The Wall Street Journal. He’s also the Senior Producer of Focus Features’ film history podcast “Zoom,” hosted by Variety critic Amy Nicholson.