Bruna Papandrea.
Bruna Papandrea has been confirmed as one of the keynote speakers for Screen Forever 2016, taking place in Melbourne from November 15-17.
Papandrea runs her own film and television production company, Make Movies. She recently departed lit-focussed production company Pacific Standard, which she launched in 2012 with Reese Witherspoon.
Pacific Standard acquired and adapted Wild by Cheryl Strayed (the film starred Witherspoon and was directed by Jean Marc Vallee) and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (directed by David Fincher and starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike).
Papandrea and Witherspoon also executive produced limited series Big Little Lies starring Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley and Laura Dern for HBO, based on the novel by Aussie Liane Moriarty and set for a February 2017 debut.
Prior to Pacific Standard, Papandrea, who was born in the Adelaide suburb of Elizabeth, was president of Michael London’s Groundswell Productions, and served as a producer at Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack’s Mirage Enterprises.
Her producing credits include All Good Things directed by Andrew Jarecki (The Jinx), Noam Murro’s Smart People and Jonathan Teplitzky’s Better Than Sex. She also executive produced Gus Van Sant's Milk, for which Sean Penn won an Oscar in 2009.
"Bruna Papandrea has had an extraordinary career," said SPA CEO Matthew Deaner.
"Her talents and intelligence have attracted a number of the film world’s most successful people to work with her and these relationships have produced some of the finest films of the last 20 years. She has a great nose for a good story and a passion for telling more female driven stories. We are delighted to have her as a guest and to offer a platform for her to share her wisdom and experiences with Australian filmmakers.”