Category: media

Several of the directors, including Parasite director Bong Joon-ho, “emerged from the period of 1980s civic turmoil that ended the military dictatorship. They were all members of the university cine-clubs that showed films banned under censorship laws, on campuses boiling over with pro-democracy fervour. Hence the taste for exploring off-limits parts of the national psyche.” Also, well, it’s structural: South Korean used to require its movie theatres to show homegrown cinema for 147 days per year. – The Guardian (UK)

While Parasite and Jojo Rabbit were winners at the Writers Guild Awards on Saturday night, Parasite and clear Oscars Best Picture frontrunner 1917 shared awards at the BAFTAs on Sunday. But even Prince William, the president of BAFTA, referred to the event’s lack of diversity as he introduced the final award” “In 2020 and not for the first time in the last few years, we find ourselves talking again about the need to do more to ensure diversity in the sector and in the awards process. … That simply cannot be right in this day and age.” – The New York Times

Minari, which is an autobiographical feature based on Lee Isaac Chung’s childhood in rural Arkansas, won both Audience and Grand Prize. “All four of the jury directing prizes went to female filmmakers: Garrett Bradley’s Time in U.S. Documentary, Radha Blank’s Netflix acquisition The 40-Year-Old Version in U.S. Dramatic, Iryna Tsilyk’s The Earth is Blue as an Orange from Ukraine/Lithuania in World Documentary and Maïmouna Doucouré’s Cuties (another Netflix title) from France in World Dramatic.” – Los Angeles Times

Some professors and grad students are trying to change that, but right now, the situation is this: “The four films that the organizers are hoping to digitize (Fabrication Des Chapeaux De Manille, Industrie De L’abaca A L’ile De Cebu, Glimpses Of The Culion Leper Colony And Of Culion Life, and Manila Street Scene) are among the oldest examples of Philippine filmmaking but are currently only available on 35mm in London’s British Film Institute National Archive on a pay-per-minute basis. This makes viewing them somewhat difficult and expensive, particularly for those not based in the UK.” You don’t say. – Hyperallergic

Well, this is interesting. As the series gets closer and closer to the present, perhaps some members of the Royal Family have expressed strong displeasure. One wonders. In any case: The role played by Claire Foy and Olivia Colman next goes to Imelda Staunton. Writer and producer Peter Morgan: “At the outset I had imagined The Crown running for six seasons but now that we have begun work on the stories for season five it has become clear to me that this is the perfect time and place to stop.” – The New York Times

While Disney wants to “integrate” Hulu into its own streaming services operations, Hulu isn’t going anywhere – yet. “Hulu, known for original series such as the Emmy-winning The Handmaid’s Tale, is also a key part of Disney’s streaming strategy. While Disney+ is the home to more family friendly-content, Hulu is expected to carry edgier programming from Disney-owned properties.” – Los Angeles Times

Liz Garbus and Todd Phillips both won Sundance awards for documentaries in 1998, and they’ve both been working filmmakers ever since. But Phillips is about to go to the Oscars with an obscene number of nominations for The Joker while Garbus opens her first feature at Sundance. “‘I don’t know Todd’s trajectory, and if he tried to make more docs’” said Garbus. ‘But I had a script I was carrying around in my pocket for a long time after The Farm that I couldn’t get made. So why are there more female documentary filmmakers? Because the pay is less. The threshold for entry is less. The budgets are less. I don’t think women are inherently better documentary filmmakers.'” – Los Angeles Times

The review comes at a perilous time for the BBC, with insiders and industry observers worried that the broadcaster is facing an existential crisis. As well as a hostile government, which is skeptical about the BBC’s funding model and unhappy with its coverage on Brexit, the broadcaster is dealing with a tsunami of disruption from U.S. streaming services and having to make savings £800M. Head of news and current affairs Fran Unsworth told staff this week that she can’t remember another time in her 40-year BBC career when the broadcaster has been so under threat from external forces. – Deadline