Samantha Corr was announced as one of only eight candidates selected for this year’s Puttnam Scholars. This amazing cross-border initiative offers promising filmmakers access to interactive online masterclasses with Oscar-winning producer David Puttnam (Midnight Express, Chariots of Fire, The Killing Fields) and each candidate will receive €1,000 towards their career development, sponsored by David Puttnam.

The masterclass sessions encourage filmmakers to contemplate their creative choices and to interrogate the reasons why film remains such an important medium. David Puttnam will ask participants to consider how national and personal identity informs their filmmaking, while also helping them to better understand the commercial aspects of what they do and highlighting the importance of creative leadership to the island’s burgeoning film sector.

Samantha Corr, is a Dublin-based Producer and Managing Director of the Sundance and European Academy Award-winning documentary production company, Venom Films. Samantha oversees an exciting slate of projects supported by slate development funds from Screen Ireland and Creative Europe. She recently produced the feature documentary, Million Dollar Pigeons directed by Gavin FitzGerald which had it’s world premiere in Toronto at HotDocs Film Festival in 2022, with UK-based sales partner, Dogwoof and co-produced with ARTE/ZDF and NHK along with Irish partners Screen Ireland, RTÉ and the BAI and pre-sales across Europe. Samantha has a BA degree in Film & Television Studies from Dundalk Institute of Technology, she holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Advanced Producing from TU Dublin/Screen Ireland and is a graduate of the professional European producer’s programme, EURODOC.

Samantha Corr said,

“I wish to say a sincere thank you to DkIT and Screen Ireland for nominating me to take part in the 2023 Puttnam Scholarship. It is an honour to be considered and I am delighted by the opportunity to learn firsthand from the esteemed film producer, Lord David Puttnam. I look forward to deepening my knowledge of the film industry and I have no doubt that this experience will be invaluable in my career. I am excited to take part in the upcoming masterclasses and hearing from some of the most established people in the business.”

David Puttnam said,

“This programme is always one of the highlights of my year. It gives me the chance to get to know an emerging generation of filmmakers and to have honest conversations with them about what their films can – and should – do. This year has been an exceptional one for the industry across the island of Ireland and the calibre of the scholars selected for the 2023 programme highlights how ambitious we should be about our screen sector’s future”.

These prestigious seminars have in the past included conversations with several special guests, each providing insights into their own careers and thoughts on the industry. Guest have included Lenny Abrahamson, Ralph Fiennes, Paul Greengrass and Mark Cousins.