Amanda Palmer

Amanda Palmer is a series creator, writer, producer, presenter and director known for 48 (2006), The Fabulous Picture Show (2006) and Cruel Summer (2012). The British-Australian has also built a career as a high-level media and film executive. In 2009 she became the founding Executive Director of the Doha Film Institute (DFI) based in Doha, Qatar in 2010 and spearheaded a cultural partnership with Robert De Niro's Tribeca Festival to deliver three annual Doha Tribeca Film Festivals in Qatar (2009-2012). Palmer also developed and ran DFI's film fund that supported over 70 international and regional films including Qatar's first international co-production: Jean Jacques Annaud's "Black Gold" starring Antonio Banderas, Frieda Pinto, Tahir Rahim, Mark Strong and was number one in UAE box office in 2011; Salma Hayek and Participant Media's feature adaptation of Khalil Gibran's The Prophet; Mira Nair's "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" (which opened the 2012 Venice Film Festival); Kanye West's "Cruel Summer"; and Ziad Doueiri's "The Attack" (2012 Toronto Film Festival); Nadine Labakis' "Where Do We Go Now" (won the People's Choice Award at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival); Jasmila Zbanic's "For Those Who Can Tell No Tales" and many more. Her work at DFI also saw the incubation and training of Qatar's local film community. Prior to that, in 2005 Palmer was Head of Entertainment at AlJazeera English in London, where she established the department and created, directed, produced and presented flagship entertainment programming, including the long-running international film critique program "The Fabulous Picture Show" and the global cultural travel series "48", which saw her produce specialist programming traveling across 16 countries, including Syria, Chad, and Bosnia and was broadcast regularly to over 220 million. From 2001 joined CNN London's 'Business International', then 'The Music Room'. Shortly after, she also earned the coveted role as European bureau chief and foreign correspondent for the Seven Network, becoming the network's youngest woman ever to manage this role. She produced daily news and current affairs and covered events around the September 11 attacks in New York. Palmer joined Associated Press Television in 2003, during the coverage of the second Iraq War. In 1996, Amanda was among ten global journalists selected to take part of CNN's prestigious 'International Professional Program' based at the Atlanta headquarters for two months, launching her foray into global content and international journalism. Palmer lives between London and Los Angeles and runs her own production company, Mandi focusing on creating original documentary series.