Pop Culture Confidential

Freelance critic Jorge Tenreiro joins Christina to dig into The Social Reckoning, Aaron Sorkin’s follow-up to The Social Network. The film stars Mikey Madison as Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen and Jeremy Allen White as Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz, with Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg. Jorge, who is a litigator, also weighs in on some of the interesting legal questions at the heart of the story.

Follow Jorge Tenreiro on Instagram @⁠awards_predix⁠

In this dispatch from the New York Film Festival 2026, Christina and Ryan McQuade (AwardsWatch) dig into the festival's Centerpiece film, Tony Gilroy's Behemoth!, starring Pedro Pascal. Plus, Digger talk!

A special episode of Pop Culture Confidential! Christina had the honor of interviewing Cristian Mungiu, director of the Palme d'Or film Fjord. In a wide-ranging conversation, they discuss the film, the themes that run through his body of work, the conversations Fjord has sparked, and much more.

Recorded live on stage following a screening in Stockholm, Sweden, September 2026.

Toronto just wrapped, closing out the fall festival trio of Venice, Telluride, and TIFF, and the Oscar picture is starting to come into focus. This week, Christopher Rosen (deputy editor at The Ankler, co-host of the Prestige Junkie podcast) joins the show to break it all down.
We dig into TIFF winner La Bola Negra, the sensation that had the festival buzzing, plus Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine (which won John Malkovich Best Actor at Venice) and Simon Stone's Telluride/TIFF drama Elsinore starring Andrew Scott. We look at who's in the running for Best Picture and the...

Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's documentary "You Can See Everything" about Elizabeth Holmes blew the roof off the Telluride Film Festival at its secret screening. Christina sat down with Jay Ledbetter and Ryan McQuade of the Director Watch podcast (AwardsWatch) to process the experience!

High above Telluride, Christina hops aboard a gondola with Jorge Tenreiro and Sophia Ciminello of AwardsWatch to talk about La Bola Negra, the new film from Los Javis. From the Telluride Film Festival.

Christina and Ryan McQuade of AwardsWatch.com discuss two of Telluride's most talked-about films: Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine and Andrew Haigh's A Long Winter.

Emmy time! Eoin Daly is back for our final Emmy predictions ahead of the 78th Emmy Awards, hosted by Mariska Hargitay, (airing September 14th). Who will take home the gold? Tune in!

Follow Eoin on instgram @eoin_daily

This week Christina has the honor of talking to actor, comedian, writer and activist Steve Way about his incredible performance as Alden on  Furious, creator Liz Meriwether's riveting crime thriller. (Furious was just renewed for a second season!) In a wide-ranging conversation, they talk about what drew Way to the role of Alden, what sets Furious apart from other police procedurals, Meriwether's uniquely complicated and multifaceted characters, and the show's moments of humor. Steve talks about the near-death experience at 14 that reshaped how he sees his own life, when he knew he was funny, and his years in stand-up com...

Christina joins the AwardsWatch podcast for a special episode! We’re less than two weeks before the 53nd Telluride Film Festival kicks off on Labor Day weekend and we have a packed show. On episode 360 AwardsWatch Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by Editor-In-chief Erik Anderson Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello, contributors Jay Ledbetter, Mark Johnson, and Jorge Tenreiro, and Christina Birro of Pop Culture Confidential to break down what we think will be at Telluride this season, who might be getting the Silver Medallion festival tributes, and much more.

You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever yo...

Summer's winding down but the watchlist isn't. Ryan McQuade (AwardsWatch) is back on Pop Culture Confidential to review and discuss The End of Oak Street and The Invite, plus a couple of TV picks worth your time, Furious and Lanterns.

Christina is joined by director Brian L. Tan and co-producer Tara McNamara to talk about their new film Bandit & their filmmaking journey! Tan describes the film as "The White Lotus from the perspective of the help." Set in Indonesia, Bandit follows two childhood friends, desperate for cash, whose theft goes horribly wrong. The film is already making serious festival waves: it won the Grand Jury Prize at the Dances With Films festival in Los Angeles and Best Foreign Film at the Burbank International Film Festival.

Christina talks to creator and showrunner George Kay.

Kay is one of the most versatile and prolific creators working in television. His work spans genres and continents, with global hits like Lupin, The Long Shadow, and Hijack. George Kay is seemingly the busiest man in television, with two shows premiering soon: first his upcoming Swedish crime drama Blood Sacrifice, starring Jakob Oftebro and Peter Andersson as an estranged father-son detective duo hunting a killer targeting police, premiering August 20 on Netflix , and later the fall the legal drama War, starring Dominic West and Sienna Miller.

In a wid...

It's been an incredible first part of the year at the movies! Ryan McQuade (AwardsWatch.com) joins Christina to talk about their 10 best movies of the year so far (not an easy task!) Plus, they talk about the Venice Film Festival 2026 lineup that just dropped, the steep decline of women directors in competition, and less studio and streamer films on the Lido.

Guest Ryan McQuade (AwardsWatch.com) and Christina journey into Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey! Join us as we review, discuss, and dissect Nolan's latest epic.

He was Player of the Year for Norwich City Football Club in the 1970s. Then he vanished, for decades.

Directors Ramiel Petros & Nicholas Freeman found him hiding in plain sight, managing a motel in Los Angeles that was about to close for good. His name is Tony Powell, and his story became the heart of their doc, The Last Guest of the Holloway Motel.

In this episode, Ramiel and Nicholas join me to talk about their doc and about Tony & his story: a story about escaping a homophobic culture, the price paid, the power of...

We are thrilled and honored to be joined by Widow's Bay's own Ruth, the incredible K Callan (Widow's Bay just got 19 Emmy nominations!!!). At 90 years old, K Callan is a LEGEND , over 7 decades working in TV, from Norman Lear shows to Bosom Buddies with Tom Hanks, Martha Kent in ABC's Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Dawson's Creek, Veep, Great Nana in Knives Out and more. She is INCREDIBLE in the breakout show Widow's Bay, a scene stealing perfomance.

In our wide-ranging conversation we talk about the show, working with Katie Dippold, the great female characters...

Film critic and journalist John Bleasdale joins Christina to discuss the news that Luca Guadagnino's film about OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Artificial, has been dropped by Amazon, which just happens to have a partnership with OpenAI...

Also in the mix: the many partnerships forming between creators and tech. A24 has announced a $75 million research partnership with Google DeepMind. Steven Soderbergh is embracing AI. Scorsese has signed on as a partner with an AI image-generation startup. And Netflix has acquired an AI filmmaking start-up founded by Ben Affleck. Have the tech companies taken over Hollywood? Is AI Hollywood's b...

TV time! Emmy nominations drop on July 8th. Christina and guest Eoin Daly make their boldest nom predictions. From The Pitt to Hacks, Widows Bay, Pluribus, and a lot of surprises. Who's getting in? Who's getting snubbed?

The Emmys ceremony is on September 14th.

Eoin Daly on Instagram. @eoin_daily

It's Disclosure Day! Christina is joined by Ryan McQuade of AwardsWatch to discuss and review Steven Spielberg's latest film. They dig into how it fits into the director's filmography as well as his biography, exploring where his mastery shines through, where the film falls short, and how it all comes together. Includes spoilers!

Backrooms is the record-breaking horror phenomenon of the summer. Christina sat down with brilliant production designer Danny Vermette and VFX supervisor Edward J. Douglas to talk about their work on the film and their collaboration with 20-year-old YouTube creator Kane Parsons , A24's youngest-ever director. We dig into the 30,000-square-foot build that brought Parsons's Backrooms YouTube series to life on the big screen, the themes and anxieties of isolation, (and the horror of fluorescent lighting ;) in the Backrooms , the dreamscape of the "outside world" (inspired by the Windows Bliss wallpaper), influences ranging from Eraserhead to Mr. Robot, Portal, and...

Actor Brittany Allen (The Boys, Dexter: Original Sin, Jigsaw) joins the show to discuss her Emmy-buzzed performance as Roxie Hamler, a terminal cancer patient on HBO’s The Pitt. We dive into the research behind her role, her collaboration with Noah Wyle and the cast and crew of the medical drama, the emotional weight of the storylines, how the team unwinds after intense days on set, and so much more.

Ryan McQuade of AwardsWatch.com joins Christina to discuss the mega-hits Obsession (directed by 26-year-old Curry Barker) and Backrooms (by 20-year-old Kane Parsons), the rise of YouTube content creators in cinema and more! Plus they talk basketball! :) Don’t miss it

524: Dispatch 10: Final Cannes Report! Guest Ryan McQuade, AwardsWatch.com

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Cannes Film Festival Dispatch 9. Club Kid, Coward, The Man I Love & Jim Queen with guest: Erik Anderson, AwardsWatch.

https://awardswatch.com

Video Anton Isiukov

https://www.antonisiukov.com

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Cannes Film Festival 2026 Dispatch nr 8. A Conversation with Sean Fennessey.

Guest: Sean Fennessey

https://www.theringer.com/podcasts/the-big-picture

https://substack.com/@seanfennessey

Video: Anton Isiukov

http://antonisiukov.com

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Guest Wendy Mitchell Contributing Editor for Screen International and ScreenDaily.com

https://www.filmwendy.com/writing

Guest, author and film critic John Bleasdale

https://www.johnbleasdale.com

Video by Anton Isiukov

https://www.antonisiukov.com

Cannes Film Festival Dispatch 5: Review Paweł Pawlikowski 's 'Fatherland' (Guest Sophia Ciminello – AwardsWatch)

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On a special episode from Cannes 2026, Christina interviews (her husband:), screenwriter Peter Birro, and director Gustaf Skarsgård about their upcoming film. They are at the festival to introduce The Cannibal, a psychological horror film about a screenwriter who goes to the island of Fårö to write a movie about Bergman, but soon encounters a demonic presence. Production starts in 2026. Audio & Video Video by Anton Isiukov

https://www.antonisiukov.com

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Review! We are excited about Jane Schoenbrun's ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ starring  Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson. Guest Ryan McQuade AwardsWatch.com

Ryan McQuade of AwardsWatch joins Christina live from the Cannes Film Festival 2026 to discuss this year’s jury, predictions, and some of the fests biggest stories.

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What to expect from Pop Culture Confidential at the Cannes Film Festival 2026. Join us!

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Emmy season is heating up, and Christina is joined by Eoin Daly (of @onofusnet) to break down and discuss the most buzzworthy TV! From the sharp humor of Hacks,  to the brilliance of Beef  season 2, Half Man, The Pitt, Survivor, and everything in between. With nominations just around the corner (July 8th!) make sure to tune in for hot takes, insights, and predictions!

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Special cross-over episode! On episode 344 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson, AwardsWatch Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello, and Pop Culture Confidential’s Christina Birro to preview the 2026 Cannes Film Festival and also discuss the newest changes within the Academy for the upcoming Oscars and beyond.

You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 1h05m. We will be back next week with a live episode from the 2026 Cannes Film Festi...

Welcome to the first-ever Pop Culture Confidential Summer 2026 Movie Draft! Christina is joined by Jay Ledbetter and Ryan McQuade (hosts of The Director Watch Podcast) to draft the films of the summer season. From Nolan and Spielberg to Toy Story 5, the chilling Backrooms, and so much more, who will draft the ultimate summer lineup? Tune in to find out!

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Lena Dunham’s 'Famesick' is here! On this episode, Christina is joined by Sophia Ciminello (AwardsWatch, Oscar Wilde podcast) to unpack the much-anticipated memoir and explore Dunham’s cultural impact.

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Sachs, Farhadi, Almodóvar, Pawlikowski, Kore-eda, Hamaguchi, Mungiu and many more! Ryan McQuade of AwardsWatch.com joins Christina to preview the Cannes Film Festival 2026, featuring an incredible lineup of films and filmmakers.

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The brilliant writer/director Mary Bronstein joins Christina to discuss her film If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. The film is a raw and revelatory exploration of motherhood, anchored by an incredible, Oscar-nominated performance by Rose Byrne.

Christina and Mary Bronstein dive into where Mary was in her life when she began writing the film, how she and Rose Byrne developed the character of Linda, the ongoing taboos surrounding motherhood and so much more.

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This episode, Ryan McQuade (AwardsWatch) joins Christina for a grab bag of news, reviews, and all manner of good stuff! They dive into 'Project Hail Mary', 'The Drama', Colbert taking on Tolkien, the Oscars venue move, Scorsese’s book adaptation, Supergirl, the Harry Potter TV series, and so much more. Listen now!

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