OSCAR winner and film legend David Puttnam will reflect on his love of Skibbereen in a special portrait on RTÉ1 this Thursday.
Puttnam is one of the most respected figures in world film. In 1982 he won an Oscar for best film for Chariots of Fire, but his career goes way beyond film, to his work as an educationalist, environmentalist, and political activist.
In David Puttnam: The Long Way Home, the famed film producer reflects on his life and the influences which shaped his journey to becoming an Irish citizen, and his move to West Cork.
The documentary is directed by Macroom native Edel O’Mahony and produced by Clíona Ní Bhuachalla.
‘I met David Puttnam on the Puttnam Scholarship programme and I was immediately captivated by him,’ said Clíona. ’We were delighted that he agreed to collaborate with us on this film which reflects the threads that connect his life and how he became an Irishman.’
Puttnam traces the aspects of his life which led him and his wife Patsy to becoming Irish citizens and making their home on the shores of the Ilen river near Skibbereen.
He explores his improbable journey from a north London school dropout to a successful film producer. He also reveals significant events which shaped his thinking – the impact of his early life in London and his immersion in an environment dominated by fear during the Blitz years, the role his parents played, how he fell in love with Patsy, his wife of over 60 years, the importance of his friendship with Alan Parker, and his stint in Hollywood as chief executive of Columbia Pictures.
Throughout the film he demonstrates how his life is reflected in his work and how each element of his journey supported the next, eventually leading him and Patsy to Ireland.
David Puttnam: The Long Way Home is on this Thursday June 20th at 10.15pm.
