Film Committee

11 November 09

FINOLA DWYER

Chair

Born in New Zealand, Finola was a film editor before turning to producing, and moved to the UK in the early '90s. Her producer credits include Iain Softley's acclaimed debut Backbeat and Stephan Elliott's Welcome to Woop Woop, Chris Menges' The Lost Son and Sandra Goldbacher's Me Without You. She produced the festival favourite and Emmy-nominated Hamburg Cell and Stephen Woolley's directorial debut Stoned. Finola produced the award-winning Tsunami: The Aftermath directed by Bharat Nalluri and made her theatre producing debut with the hit West End and award-winning Elling. A Sydney Theatre Company production of the play opened this summer, with a Broadway production planned for early 2010. She also executive produced Dean Spanley (Peter O’Toole, Sam Neill and Jeremy Northam). Finola’s most recent production is An Education, written by best-selling author and screenwriter Nick Hornby and directed by Lone Scherfig, and released in the UK and US in October. The cast includes Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Dominic Cooper, Rosamund Pike, Olivia Williams, Emma Thompson and Carey Mulligan.

NIK POWELL

Deputy Chair

In the early 1970s Nik Powell set up Virgin Records with Richard Branson. In 1982, he formed Palace Productions with Stephen Woolley and exec-produced all productions, including Neil Jordan's award-winning Company of Wolves, Oscar-nominated & Cannes award-winning Mona Lisa and Oscar-winning The Crying Game. In 1992 Nik and Stephen formed SCALA Productions where they produced Terence Davies' The Neon Bible, the Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning Little Voice by Mark Herman, and Fred Schepsi's Last Orders. Nik's latest film is Ladies in Lavender starring Dame Judi Dench. He is Director of the National Film and Television School and Deputy Chair of the European Film Academy.

ANGELA ALLEN MBE

Angela started work at an artists agency, Filmrights. She trained as a script supervisor (known as Continuity) at the Korda studios and worked on the second unit of The Third Man. Romulus films hired her for Pandora and The Flying Dutchman and as the youngest continuity working she was chosen by Sam Spiegel to work for John Huston on The African Queen and then worked on 13 more of his films including Moby Dick, The Misfits, The Man Who Would Be King, Night Of The Iguana. She worked in New York for NBC, a theatre producer and for Ray Stark on his stage production of Funny Girl and, in California, for Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin and as script on some TV shows for Universal. More recently, she worked with John Frankenheimer and has been involved with Franco Zeffirelli on his films and stage work. Angela has attended the Robert Osborne Festival in Athens, Georgia for the past four years and is currently an advisor on a writing workshop in Germany for eQuinoxe.

DAVID ARNOLD

Biography to follow

JEREMY BROCK

Jeremy's career began in theatre before he co-created (with Paul Unwin) the UK's most successful long-running drama series, Casualty. After a series of award-winning TV productions, Jeremy's first feature film, Mrs Brown, won The Evening Standard Best Screenplay Award and was nominated for two Oscars and eight BAFTAs including Best Film and Best Original Screenplay. Jeremy's first film as Writer/Director, Driving Lessons, opened at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2006. The film was awarded the Special Jury Prize; the Russian Film Critics award; the Audience Award and Best Actress (Julie Walters) at the Moscow International Film Festival 2006. Jeremy co-wrote The Last King of Scotland which won the BAFTA for Adapted Screenplay in 2007. Other credits include Charlotte Gray and the recent adaptation of Brideshead Revisited directed by Julian Jarrold. Jeremy’s adaptation of Eagle of the Ninth for producer Duncan Kenworthy and director Kevin MacDonald is shooting this year.

LISA BRYER

Lisa’s first job in the film industry was in 1980 working for Tony Palmer, director of Wagner, a nine hour film shot all over Europe. She started as Simon Channing-Williams' runner and finished as an assistant diector. She then went on to work with pop promo director Tim Pope, becoming his producer in 1982. In 1985 Lisa and Tim set up Cowboy Films, which became one of the most sought after production companies in London, making over 500 music videos, 400 commercials, ten short films (including the Oscar winner Wasp) and three feature films Goodbye Charlie Bright, The Hole and the award-winning The Last King of Scotland. Lisa is a trustee of Action on Addiction, an addiction charity with treatment centres, halfway houses and a research department and training center. Lisa is also a trustee of the Westside Independent School based in West London. This is a small school for 14-16 year olds who have been found to be disengaging from mainstream education and are at risk of total exclusion from any schools. The children are supported in order to complete their GCSEs and hopefully go back into mainstream education.

DOMINIQUE GREEN

Dominique began her career in the film industry working as manager of The Other Cinema and establishing Joe Boyd’s Osiris Films. She went on to run the newly created film division at Island records and in the early ’80s, moved to become Head of Distribution with Virgin Vision, responsible for the acquisition and marketing of a broad range of feature films. This was followed by two years as Managing Director of Comic Relief and working for Jeremy Thomas on Bertolucci’s Little Buddha. In 1992 she moved to Paris to establish the Producers’ programme ACE, and was then appointed as Head of Co-Production for TF1 then moving to StudioCanal+ where she developed, financed and executive produced over a dozen feature films. At this time Green was also Associate Producer of Francesco Rosi’s THE TRUCE. Throughout this period Green was a consultant to the Media Business School and taught at the Film Business School and Mega programmes in Spain. Green returned to London in 2004 to become Managing Director of Magnum Photos and is currently Managing Director the charity PhotoVoice, UK delegate for the Berlin Film Festival and teaches at EICAR film school in Paris.

PIPPA HARRIS

Pippa started her career at Jacaranda Productions as a production assistant in 1989. After that she worked as a script editor for ITV and Channel Four, before becoming Development Executive at BBC Films. She was then promoted to Executive Producer, BBC Drama Serials where her productions included The Way We Live Now, Care, The Sleeper, Love in a Cold Climate and Warriors. In 2001 she became Head of Drama Commissioning for the BBC, working alongside Jane Tranter. BBC commissions included State Of Play, The Lost Prince, Cutting It, Flesh and Blood and Daniel Deronda. In 2003, she co-founded film and theatre production company, Neal Street Productions, with partners Sam Mendes and Caro Newling. Here she heads up the film and TV side. Since forming the company, Pippa has produced films Starter For Ten, Jarhead and Stuart A Life Backwards and executive produced Things We Lost in the Fire, Revolutionary Road and Away We Go.

JUSTIN JOHNSON

Justin Johnson works for the British Film Institute, selecting films for younger audiences at BFI Southbank and the London Film Festival. He is a regular contributor to Radio and TV on matters concerning children's films, animation and films in general. He has served on juries at many European Film Festivals including Berlin, Copenhagen and Zlin and has served as both a selector and a juror for the British Animation Awards. During his time at the BFI, he has curated seasons in partnership with the Shanghai Animations Studios, Pixar and the Swedish Film Institute as well as hosting many on-stage events and interviews. He is also Head of Operations for BFI Southbank.

KATE LEE

Kate has 22 years of experience as a film publicist and UK film distributor. Since joining Freud Communications in November 2000, she has created a highly sought after film publicity division. She has worked across unit distribution, as an individual filmmaker representative, corporate representative and talent representative. Some of the most exciting production companies, new actors and film makers she represents in the UK, include Working Title, DNA, Number 9 Films and Vertigo. Other clients include Paramount, Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox. Prior to this Kate set up the Polygram UK office and ran the BVI UK press office.

CO-OPTED COMMITTEE MEMBERS

ROSA BOSCH

Born in Barcelona, Rosa began her film career at the American Film Institute in LA before moving to London as Deputy Head of Programming at the National Film Theatre and Deputy Director of The London Film Festival. In 1998 she produced Buena Vista Social Club by Wim Wenders and was a founding partner of the production and international sales company Tequila Gang with Guillermo del Toro, Laura Esquivel, Bertha Navarro and Alejandra Moreno Toscano. Her feature film productions include Calle 54, The Devil’s Backbone and Lost in la Mancha and she has been involved in the international launch and distribution of films including Amores Perros and Nine Queens. In 2003 she set up and was co-Managing Director of the HBO Films international theatrical distribution operation based in London. She has also produced a wide range of filmed musical events, ranging from EPK, clips, TV concerts and documentaries with artists including Orchestra Baobab, Toumani Diabate and Bjork. She is currently an independent producer with B&W Films and based in London.

WILL CLARKE

Will began his career in distribution at The Feature Film Company where he oversaw the acquisition and release of films including Hanif Kureshi’s My Son the Fanatic, Oscar-nominated Ulee’s Gold and the reissues of It’s a Wonderful Life and Withnail and I. In May 1999 Will launched Optimum Releasing. Optimum has acquired independent and foreign language films that have achieved both commercial and critical success such as Amores Perros, Spirited Away and Pan’s Labyrinth. 2009 has seen the release of such critically acclaimed titles as The Wrestler, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Coco Before Chanel. 2009 has also been the year in which Optimum’s production ambitions have come to fruition. Currently filming is the adaptation of Brighton Rock, (scr/dir. Rowan Joffe, feat. Helen Mirren, Carey Mulligan). Will has supported a variety of filmmakers over the years, introducing Hayao Miyazaki to British audiences and has long standing relationships with directors such as Guillermo del Toro and Shane Meadows (Will was executive producer of Dead Man’s Shoes and This Is England). One of the founding board members of Film London, Will has also participated in a number of industry initiatives such as the Government's Film Policy Review Sub Committee on Distribution and has been a regular speaker at the NFTS.

DAVID MORRISSEY

Biography to follow

SIR SYDNEY SAMUELSON CBE

Now aged 83 and a veteran of cinema presentation and film and television production, he started his career at age fourteen as a rewind boy in the projection box of his local cinema. He subsequently became an assistant film editor and, after four years in the RAF, he became a camera assistant. Later, as a director/cameraman, he worked on the making of documentaries and television programmes in countries throughout the world. Having set up his own company with a down payment on a 35mm film camera, he retired as president of Samuelson Group plc - the largest audio-visual equipment supply company in the world - in 1990. In 1991 the Government appointed him, as the first British Film Commissioner, to lead the team which helped to bring about a resurgence of film production in Britain. Sir Sydney has received both the Michael Balcon Award and a Fellowship of the British Academy of Film & Television Arts and is the immediate past Chairman of Trustees of the David Lean BAFTA Foundation.

TANYA SEGHATCHIAN

Tanya Seghatchian is a British film producer who is currently Head of the Development Fund at the UK Film Council. She was one of the producers of the first four Harry Potter films and developed the franchise. She is partnered with Pawel Pawlikowski in their independent company and won a BAFTA for producing Pawlikowski’s multi-award winning Feature Film My Summer of Love. She began her career making arts documentaries for the South Bank Show and the BBC, where she also trained as a script editor for Jimmy McGovern.

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