Acclaimed film maker and education champion David Puttnam set for G20 Global Cafe

BRISBANE has attracted Academy Award winning film producer and education, digital business and trade leader David Puttnam to speak next month at the Brisbane Global Café.

Lord Puttnam is best known for producing the acclaimed Oscar-winning film Chariots Of Fire, but in recent years has worked on various UK Government initiatives to promote better education outcomes and boost digital technology adoption in business and industry. 

Brisbane City Council Finance and Economic Development Chairman Councillor Julian Simmonds said the Brisbane Global Café is a first for a G20 host city and aimed to capitalise on the city’s status as the "capital of the world" when Brisbane hosts the 2014 G20 Leaders Summit.

“The Brisbane Global Café is a two-day event at Brisbane City Hall on November 12-13 leading into the G20 Leaders Summit on November 15-16, featuring speakers, workshops, and media conferences, as well as a series of events those involving the visit by Lord Puttnam,” Cr Simmonds said.

“Lord Puttnam is a legend of the film industry. His visit will be a coup for the city and the Brisbane Global Café.

“Lord Puttnam will speak a public seminar at Griffith University on Monday, October 6, as part of its ‘Cinema of Hope: Producing for Screen and Society in the 21^st Century’, and the following day, he will present at ‘A Conversation with Lord David Puttnam’ luncheon at Room Three Sixty, QUT Gardens Point Campus.”

Cr Simmonds said Lord Puttnam had produced films including Chariots of Fire,The Killing Fields, Midnight Express, The Mission and Local Hero. In 2010 he was President of the International Jury for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

“Lord Puttnam is a legend of the industry. His films have won 10 Oscars, including Best Picture for Chariots of Fire, as well as 25 BAFTAs and the Palme D’Or at Cannes,” Cr Simmonds said.

“He retired from film production in 1998 to focus on his work in public policy but retains a strong and active interest in national and global policy for film and the wider creative and communications industries. He is now the chair of Atticus Education, an online education company based in Ireland.

“The former Chancellor of the Open University UK and Sunderland University, he is the UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Burma, as well as the Irish Government’s ‘Digital Champion’.”

To book tickets to lunch with Lord Puttnam on Tuesday 7 October, go to http://wired.ivvy.com/event/FMC010 or to book tickets to Lord Puttnam’s Griffith University lecture on Monday 6 October, go towww.griffith.edu.au/puttnam-series

For more information on the Brisbane Global Cafe visit globalcafe.com.au

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