Directors Digest — 18 September 2019

Scam festivals, Downton Abbey, Apollo 11 and supermarket TV — this week’s Digest is a mixed bag. Read all the latest news and views below. 

Television

Ofcom has released a mjor new report on diversity in UK television, which you can read in full here. (Ofcom)

Filmmaker Vanessa Engle talks about her 17-year manhunt for a $50m art criminal. (Guardian)

Facebook might well be producing its own streaming device, TVB Europe reports. 

In more streaming news, Tony Hall predicts a second wave of disruption for television. (Televisual)

Not entirely coincidentally, an unprecedented streaming bonanza is on the way — but it’ll cost you. (Guardian)

The Ringer looks at how Downton Abbey spawned a cottage tourism industry and reinvented British TV. 

Meanwhile, The New Statesman checks out Britain’s love for supermarket TV. 

Film

There have been calls for a film festival regulator following a spate of scam events, Screendaily reports.  

After years of imprisonment by Russian authorities, filmmaker Oleg Sentsov has been released. FERA joined the celebrations. (FERA)

Directors including Lucrecia Martel, Joanna Hogg and Barry Jenkins pick their favourite films of the century so far. (Guardian)

Apollo 11 director Todd Douglas Miller talks about condensing over 11,000 hours of audio and video into just 93 minutes. (Indiewire)

And finally, Netflix is planning to pay bonuses to filmmakers when their movies succeed. (Bloomberg)

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