In the first We Go Way Back of the year, Kit speaks with Dr Matthew Alford about the relationship between the US federal government and the film industry. Hundreds of household favourites such as Transformers and Argo have been directly influenced by US state propaganda. In this episode, Kit's in search of what this means for freedom of thought, US hegemony and the balance of geopolitics.

Dr Alford is a lecturer at the University of Bath. His research — based in freedom of information requests — has exposed the deep ties between Washington DC and Hollywood stretching back 80 years. He's just the person to be speaking on this topic and you can find out more about his work at the link below.

https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/matthew-alford