David Puttnam spent thirty years as an independent producer of award-winning films including The Mission, The Killing Fields, Chariots of Fire, Midnight Express, Bugsy Malone and Local Hero. Together these films have won ten Oscars, thirteen Golden Globes, nine Emmys, thirty-one BAFTAs, four David di Donatellos, and the Palme D'Or at Cannes. Lord Puttnam has recently retired as President of the Film Distributors’ Association and Life President of the National Film and Television School (UK). He has also been awarded fellowships from BAFTA, the British Film Institute, and the Royal Television Society.
Lord David Puttnam is Chair of Atticus Education, an online education company that delivers audio-visual seminars to students around the world from his home in west Cork. A British film producer, educator and environmentalist, David was awarded a CBE in 1982, a knighthood in 1995, and was appointed to the House of Lords in 1997. During his time as a parliamentarian, he agitated unrelentingly in public policy for education, climate change, and the creative industries. In 2019, he was appointed Chair of the House of Lords Select Committee on Democracy & Digital Technologies, which was established to investigate the impact of technologies on democracy. He retired from the House of Lords in 2021 and now focuses on his work with Atticus Education. He is a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in France, and has more than 50 honorary degrees from universities worldwide. He was Ireland’s ‘Digital Champion’ from 2012 – 2017 and was granted Irish citizenship in 2022.