More Than a Movie

In More Than A Movie, host Alex Fumero dissects a cultural phenomenon and looks at its impact on different communities. EXILE Content Studio’s latest podcast Shoot the Messenger: Espionage, Murder, & Pegasus Software (subscribe here) is a deep dive into one of the hottest phenomenons today - cybersecurity and spyware. We all use our phones daily, as almost an extension of ourselves - but what happens when our phones are no longer safe?   Jamal Khashoggi’s life, assassination, and betrayal opened up a timeline for a new digital battle: cyber-surveillance weapons.   In 2018, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Turkey and was never seen again. Weeks later, the Turkish intelligence released secret tapes of Khashoggi’s last moments before being brutally murdered, causing an international uproar. It has been four years since Khashoggi’s murder, and what we now know is that the first weapon used against Khashoggi was digital and it’s called Pegasus - a kind of software that can be used to hijack your phone; a military-grade, spyware software. A new biweekly serialized podcast, every season Exile Content Studio investigates one international new story. You may have heard the headlines — this is the deep dive. The first season examines the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and his inner circle that has had the world’s most sophisticated military-grade spyware confirmed on their phones. It’s called Pegasus. How did this spyware come to be, how does it work, and how vulnerable are you?   Shoot the Messenger is hosted by Rose Reid and Nando Vila and is a production of Exile Content Studio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

American Me was supposed to help end gang violence — instead, it may have led to the murders of at least three people. Host Alex Fumero unpacks the story of American Me, a film directed by legendary Latino actor Edward James Olmos, and his choice to base the film on a real-life gang called the Mexican Mafia or La Eme. Did Olmos' decision to fictionalize the lives of these men lead to the murders of several crew members?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Edward James Olmos is one of the most decorated and respected actors alive, especially in the Latino community. Who is the man responsible for American Me, and why did he make it? Most of us know Edward James Olmos as a legendary actor, but he's also an activist who for decades has worked on behalf of Latino causes from Hollywood to Washington D.C. But when both of those sides of him collided to make a movie that would stop gang violence what resulted may have been the exact opposite. Why did Olmos make American Me and what went wrong in the process?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Actor Jacob Vargas shares his experience on and off screen with gangs, movies and American Me.   Jacob Vargas caught a big break when at the age of 20 he was tapped to play Paulito in American Me. Since then he's had a career most actors would envy and continues starring in TV and film even today. How has he thrived as a Latino in Hollywood? What was it like being a kid in LA growing up around real gangs? And what impact did American Me actually have in his neighborhood? Was it the cautionary tale Olmos claims it was or did it somehow make kids think gangs were cool?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.