Lord David Puttman Supports Cork Film Centre

The Cork Film Centre announces strong letter of support from Famous Film Producer and Digital Champion Lord David Puttman. Oscar Award Winning Film Producer, Educator and Digital Champion, Lord David Puttman calls for a reversal of the recent Arts Council withdrawal of funding from Cork Film Centre.

David spent thirty years as an independent producer of award-winning films including The Mission, The Killing Fields, and Chariots of Fire. His films have won ten Oscars, 25 Baftas and the Palme D'Or at Cannes. From July 2002 to July 2009 he was president of UNICEF UK, playing a key role in promoting UNICEF's advocacy and awareness objectives.

David is Chancellor of the Open University. He is Digital Champion for Ireland, President of the Film Distributors' Association, Deputy Chairman of Profero, Chairman of the TSL Advisory Board and Adjunct Professor of Film Studies and Digital Humanities at University College Cork. David is the chair of Atticus Education, an online education company based in Ireland.

Following the recent shocking news that the Arts Council no longer intend to fund the Cork Film Centre, citing as it's reason the fact that it cannot justify three film resource centres in the country, Lord Puttman has written a strong letter of support for local Cork Film Centre in a bid to stop the fatal cut. In the letter he highlights the vital importance of local resource centres in fostering and developing new talent as well as encouraging the role of film as an educational tool.

He points out that the important work of centres such as CFC is carried out far away from 'media fanfare' and so they are easy targets to cut.

He refers to current government policy which stresses the need to "..promote access to and participation in, the arts by all sections of Irish society."

Finally he recognises ' the Cork Film Centre as a vital component in the arts network of the Southern Region' and calls for the Arts Council to urgently reconsider its decision.

Cork Film Centre is currently campaigning to reverse the Arts Council decision to cut its funding so that it can continue to deliver the wide reaching service it has been delivering over the past twenty years. It has gathered quite a number of testimonials from Filmmakers, Artists, Curators and Educationalists, see the website for these and links to other articles.

For more information, visit www.corkfilmcentre.com or www.davidputtman.com.

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