British producer David Putnam is the first industry lifetime achievement award at the Rome Film Festival, with long listings of credits including “Chariots of Fire,” “The Killing Fields,” and “The Mission.”
Putnam won a total of 10 Oscars, 10 Golden Globes, 25 Bafta and nine Emmys and one Parmedoll (“Mission”).
84-year-old Puttnam began making films in his hometown of London in the early 1970s, and has worked with directors such as Alan Parker, Ken Russell, Adrian Lyne and Ridley Scott to shepherd some of the most acclaimed and frequently successful films of the 1980s.
In 1986, Puttnam moved to the US, becoming CEO of Columbia Pictures, and resigned 16 months later, becoming a huge hit with relatively low-budget films, including John Bowman’s “Hope and Glory” and Spikeley’s “Daze of the School.” Back in the UK, he continued to produce indie auer films such as “Meeting Venus” (1991), starring Glenn Close.
Putnam ended his film career with 56 in 1997 and moved into politics. He was elected to the British House of Representatives in 1997. He left Congress in 2021, but is actively involved in education through Atticus Education, which offers audiovisual seminars around the world.
Puttnam has been in leadership roles in the UK Association of Film Distributors and the National Film and Television Schools. He is also UNICEF’s UK ambassador, WWF Global Ambassador and an associate professor at Cork University College.
The 20th edition of the Rome Film Festival will be held from October 15th to 26th.
