The Video Essay Podcast may have a self-explanatory name, but there’s a lot to it that escapes the grasp of that clear-cut moniker. This podcast, the brainchild of Will DiGravio, features conversations with “leading critics, filmmakers, scholars, and other creators about the craft of videographic criticism”. It has developed into a broader project: listeners are given assignments and it now also includes a newsletter that features additional content and news about the video essay form.

Head over to the project’s dedicated website or visit its Soundcloud page to start listening.

The Cinematologists is a film podcast hosted by Dario Llinares and Neil Fox. Each episode delves into one particular film and does so at length and in great detail. In that regard, it is not about the video essay form and its potential for innovative film criticism and research. However, in one particular episode the podcast explicitly discusses the potential of the podcast format as an academic practice. It is titled Knowing Sounds and it is an hour-long program that you can find on iTunes, on Player FM or on the show’s website.

You Must Remember This is dedicated to “the secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood’s first century”. The podcast is the brainchild of Karina Longworth and she consistently digs up colorful episodes and figures from Hollywood history, then presents those in a colorful, well-researched and well-produced way. These podcasts are often essayistic out of necessity, because the historical facts they are based on are murky  and sketchy, and need to be filled out.

Dig into the dozens of episodes, often thematically organized into seasons devoted to a specific topic, via this link.