Watch Next

Episode 9 – Dahomey with Jimena Perry

Watch Next — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000

In Mati Diop’s documentary Dahomey, we hear the voice of the past—literally. Diop gives a voice to one of the 26 royal treasures returned to Benin as we follow its journey home. In just under 70 minutes, Dahomey turns a story about the return of stolen objects into a debate on what happens when pieces of a country’s history, memories, and identity have been taken away. This week, we’re talking with historian Dr. Jimena Perry about museums… a lot. Because sure, museums can sometimes feel boring, but they can also be messy, political, and transformative spaces where we negotiate memory, identity, and the stories we carry forward. By the end of this conversation, you might see museums a little differently. And we have a list of places below to get you started!

Works Discussed:

Dahomey (Mati Diop, 2024)

The Birth of the Museum (Tony Benett, 1994)

Museums Discussed:

Musée d'ethnographie de Genève ("Geneva Ethnography Museum") Dialogue Objects- Geneva, Switzerland

National Center for Human and Civil Rights Atlanta, USA

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met)- The Temple of Dendur NYC, USA

Museum of the City of New York NYC, USA

Museo Casa de la Memoria (Memory House Museum) Medellin, Colombia

International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Geneva, Switzerland

El museo del barrio NYC USA

Tenement Museum NYC USA

Hispanic Society Museum and Library NYC USA

Museo Nacional de Colombia (National Museum of Colombia) Bogota, Colombia

Martin Luther King Jr’s Birth Home Atlanta, USA

Wordsworth’s Dove Cottage Grasmere, England

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Washington DC, USA

Episode 8 – Stories We Tell with Leanna Petronella

Watch Next — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 8. Stories We Tell with Leanna Petronella

Welcome back to Season 2! And we’re starting with a banger. Truths are revealed, and crafted, in Sarah Polley’s documentary Stories We Tell, as her search to learn more about her recently deceased mother turns into a search to uncover the identity of her biological father. With poet Leanna Petronella, we talk about family secrets, the craft of writing, and ask the question: “To whom does a story belong?”

Join us as we explore family drama, memory, storytelling, and the complicated question of what is the truth behind the stories we tell.

Works Discussed:

Stories we tell (Sarah Polley, 2012)

The Imaginary Age (Leanna Petronella, 2016)

The Tampon

Skype Date

Episode 7 – The Handmaiden with Jacqueline Avila

Watch Next — Mon, 25 May 2026 08:00:00 +0000

This film has everything! Beautiful costuming, gorgeous locations, amazing camera work, but also some very adult scenes … and a live octopus. So viewer and listener discretion is advised. This week, Associate Professor of Musicology and Ethnomusicology, Dr. Jacqueline Avila joins us to explore the music and soundscape of the erotic thriller The Handmaiden (Park Chan-wook, 2016). As the film progresses, new layers of secrecy, deeper levels of the house, and new textures in the score, are revealed.

Works Discussed:

The Handmaiden (Park Chan-wook, 2016)

“My Tamako, My Sookee” by Jo Yeong-wook

The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife by Hokusai

Episode 6 – Whisper of the Heart with Moctezuma Seth Gonzalez

Watch Next — Mon, 11 May 2026 08:00:00 +0000

This week I’ll trade you film talk for some book talk. Whisper of the Heart (Yoshifumi Kondo, 1996) puts us in a cozy mood to reminisce and share origin stories. Antiquarian bookseller, and owner of Livra Books, Moctezuma Seth Gonzalez, talks about his quest to learn more about the people and objects around him, and the stories they carry. It is a story of mysterious jars of black peaches, competing with Turkish booksellers, and reading Descartes at 14.

Works Discussed: Whisper of the Heart (Yoshifumi Kondo, 1996)

Episode 5 – LSD 2 with Eleni Palis

Watch Next — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:00:00 +0000

When authenticity is marketed like a brand and “reality” is performed for the camera, LSD 2 asks: what happens when we can’t trust what we see? Replicating the visual language of news broadcasts, reality TV, and social media feeds, Dibakar Banerjee’s LSD 2 drops us into a reality shaped by deepfakes, AI-generated images, and constant surveillance.

In this episode of Watch Next, we’re joined by Dr. Eleni Palis, Associate Professor of Cinema Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, to unpack these questions and discuss why they feel more urgent than ever. Together, we trace how today’s media landscape echoes ideas filmmakers have been grappling with for decades, from Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane to Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon. And like them, we look at the past to understand our future.

Works Discussed:

LSD 2 (Dibakar Banerjee, 2024)

Citizen Kane (Orson Wells, 1941)

Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1951)

Episode 4 – Portrait of a Lady on Fire with Deborah Beck

Watch Next — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 08:00:00 +0000

Can we escape our fate? Why do we go back to a story we know well? In this episode of Watch Next, we revisit the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice as depicted in Céline Sciama’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Professor of Classics Deborah Beck talks to us about our human failings: doubt, temptation, and how the ancient Greeks told stories to understand ourselves and the world around us. It's an old song, an old tale, that we sing again and again.

Works Discussed:

Portrait of a lady on fire (Céline Sciamma, 2019)Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Episode 3 – Gully Boy with Yuki Ueda and Koya Edoho-Eket

Watch Next — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 08:00:00 +0000

From the streets of Mumbai to the royal courts of Hindustan, poetry has always found its voice. What do the rap battles of Gully Boy have in common with the royal qawwali mehfil in Mughal-e-Azam? In this episode of Watch Next, we explore the rhythm and rebellion of Gully Boy with the cohosts of the limited-edition podcast PoeTry, Yuki and Koya.

Works Discussed:

Gully Boy (Zoya Akhtar, 2019)

“Azadi” by Divine and Dub Sharma Mughal-e-Azam (K. Asif, 1960)

Episode 2 – Battle of Algiers with David Salkowski

Watch Next — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 08:00:00 +0000

From the rousing sounds that fuel resistance to the elegiac music that reminds us of our shared humanity, in this episode of Watch Next we take a closer look at the music in Battle of Algiers composed by Gillo Pontecorvo and Ennio Morricone. Even when all else is taken away, you still have your voice. As Dr. David Salkowski, Assistant Professor of Musicology at the University of North Florida, explains, the ululating chorus in The Battle of Algiers carries the sound of victory.

Works Discussed:

Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966)

“Street of Tebes” by Ennio Morricone

*Correction: The opera referenced in the episode was incorrectly named Madame Bovary. The correct Puccini opera is Madame Butterfly.

Episode 1 – Queen with Brittany Murray

Watch Next — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 08:00:00 +0000

In this episode of Watch Next, we talk with Dr. Brittany Murray, Assistant Professor of French at the University of Tennessee, about the 2014 Bollywood film Queen. The film follows Rani, a 24-year-old homely girl who decides to go on her Paris honeymoon alone after her fiancé calls off the wedding at the last minute. We explore what travel can reveal about ourselves, its potential for self-discovery, and the liberating possibilities of solo journeys. Together, we discuss joy, emancipation, and the meaningful connections we make along the way.

Works Discussed:

Queen (Vikal Bahl, 2014)

“What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men?” (Claire Dederer, 2017)