{"podcast":{"title":"Film Ireland Podcast","slug":"film-ireland-podcast-896003","podcast_index_feed_id":896003,"rss_url":"http://feeds.feedburner.com/FilmIrelandPodcast","website_url":"http://filmireland.net/","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/6955465577f9435bdcc8cb82/show-cover.jpg","author":"FilmIreland (hello@filmbase.ie)","episode_count":534,"summary":"Podcast by Film Ireland","last_synced_at":"2026-08-01T04:17:17.509716+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/film-ireland-podcast-896003"},"episode":{"title":"DocArena: BAFTA-Winning Director John Dower (The Balloonists, Thriller in Manila, My Scientology Movie)","slug":"docarena-bafta-winning-director-john-dower-the-balloonists-thriller-in-manila-my-scientology-movie","published_at":"2026-05-26T08:58:36+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/film-ireland-podcast-896003/docarena-bafta-winning-director-john-dower-the-balloonists-thriller-in-manila-my-scientology-movie","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/film-ireland-podcast-896003","url":"https://www.filmireland.netd/docarena-podcast-bafta-winning-director-john-dower-the-balloonists-thriller-in-manila-my-scientology-movie","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6955465577f9435bdcc8cb82/e/6a1560bccb11d38a8bac2f94/media.mp3","summary":"In episode 26 of the DocArena Podcast , Ross Whitaker catches up once again with BAFTA Award-winning director John Dower ( Lockerbie ,  Thriller in Manila ,  My Scientology Movie ) to discuss his latest film, The Balloonists . In cinemas on 22nd May, this gripping documentary follows explorer Bertrand Piccard and British flying instructor Brian Jones as they take on the world’s top aeronauts and billionaires in a high-stakes race to become the first to fly nonstop around the globe in a balloon. This podcast has been made possible with the support of the Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland Stakeholders Fund. Listen now on SoundCloud, Apple, Spotify, Acast and Amazon, or subscribe to Film Ireland wherever you get your podcasts . Welcome to The DocArena Podcast in association with Film Ireland. My name is Ross Whitaker and every fortnight, I want to dig deeply into the motivations of documentary filmmakers – how do they choose their subject material and what approaches and strategies do they employ to fund, craft and distribute their work… John Dower John Dower is a British director who recently won a BAFTA for his series Lockerbie . His feature  Thriller in Manila played at Sundance in 2009, went on to be BAFTA and Emmy-nominated, and won a Grierson and a Peabody. His film Bradley Wiggins: A Year In Yellow was BAFTA nominated in the Best Director category. John's other films include the music documentary Live Forever , My Scientology Movie , the Netflix series Sophie – A Murder in West Cork , and The Mystery of DB Cooper , described by The Guardian as, “a real-life Twin Peaks … highly entertaining” and the Times calling it “all but flawless.” The Balloonists The Balloonists , a thrilling new documentary opens in the winter of 1999, when Pic…","meta_description":"In episode 26 of the DocArena Podcast , Ross Whitaker catches up once again with BAFTA Award-winning director John Dower ( Lockerbie , Thriller in M…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2092,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/film-ireland-podcast-896003/episodes/docarena-bafta-winning-director-john-dower-the-balloonists-thriller-in-manila-my-scientology-movie/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/film-ireland-podcast-896003/docarena-bafta-winning-director-john-dower-the-balloonists-thriller-in-manila-my-scientology-movie.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}