Meli Solomon discusses Bank of Dave (2023), based on a true story about a UK man who wants to open a local bank to help his neighbors but also to challenge the British banking system.

It's the kind of film that might have been made in the 1940s, with Jimmy Stewart in the lead--or wait, maybe they did?

Meli Solomon is the host of the Living Our Beliefs podcast and the researcher behind the Talking with God project. She has worked as a business manager, an art dealer and founder of Solomon Fine Art gallery, language trainer, text editor, business coach, and now public scholar.

James Goldberg discusses the highly decorated Lage Raho Munna Bai, a Bombai film about living like Gandhi in the modern day.

James Goldberg is an American poet, playwright, essayist, novelist, documentary filmmaker, scholar, and translator who specializes in Mormon literature.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 series "Roots, Race and Culture" for PBS Utah.

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 Brigham Young University with an MA and wrote her thesis on Franco-Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colors Trilogy. For the last ten years she has worked as the assistant director and curator for BYU’s International Cinema, a university cinematheque that programs about 90 films per year for the BYU community. Most days you can find her hiking in the mountains, and she has never lost her love of world cinema.

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 Leadership.