Law on Film

About Law on Film

Law on Film explores the rich connections between law and film. Law is critical to many films, even to those that are not obviously about the legal world. Film, meanwhile, tells us a lot about the law, especially how it is perceived and portrayed. The podcast is created and hosted by Jonathan Hafetz, a lawyer, legal scholar, and film buff. Each episode, Jonathan and a guest expert will examine a film that is noteworthy from a legal perspective. What does the film get right about the law and what does it get wrong? Why is law important to understanding the film? And what does the film teach about law's relationship to the larger society and culture that surrounds it. Whether you're interested in law, film, or an entertaining discussion, there will be something here for you.

Publisher

Jonathan Hafetz

Category

tv & film

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

18 Apr 2023

Latest episode

6 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

68 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   6 Oct 2026

   Souleymane's Story (L'Histoire de Souleymane) (2024) (Guest: Sharon Weill) (episode 64)

   Souleymane's Story (L’Histoire de Souleymane), directed by Boris Lojkine, is anchored by the powerful performance of Abou Sangaré as a delivery worker from Guinea who is seeking asylum in France. What begins as a story of daily survival becomes a story about the legal and administrative processes governing asylum and the often fragile line between recognition and rejection. The film foregrounds questions of identity, performance, and translation, as Souleymane must shape his story to fit the ...

2. 

   15 Sept 2026

   The Alabama Solution (2025) (Guest: Joseph Margulies) (episode 63)

   The Alabama Solution is a searing documentary about Alabama’s prison system and the broader crisis of mass incarceration. Directed by Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman, the film draws on years of secretly recorded cell phone footage made by incarcerated people, offering an unusually intimate and unfiltered account of violence, isolation, resistance, and survival inside one of the harshest prison systems in the United States. The film shows how contraband cell phones transform incarcerated ...

3. 

   4 Aug 2026

   Shadow of a Doubt (1943) (Guest: Daniel Ortiz) (episode 62)

   Alfred Hitchcock’s 1943 film, Shadow of a Doubt (1943), sets a murder story inside what seems the safest place imaginable: an ordinary American family in an ordinary American town. But as suspicion gathers around Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotton), the film slowly exposes something more unsettling than a single killer on the run. It reveals how charm, respectability, and social status can insulate wrongdoing from scrutiny — and how communities prefer comforting narratives to disruptive truths. The...

Who has been a guest on Law on Film

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Aziz Huq
• Mark Templeton
• Melanie O'Brien

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

20 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

7 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 35 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

41

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

71

Contact Law on Film

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.