Trailblazers: Finola Dwyer

Finola Dwyer is an Oscar-nominated film producer.

FINOLA DWYER Filmmaker 1963-

Oscar-nominated film producer

When Finola Dwyer walked the red carpet at the 2016 Academy Awards, the Kiwi film producer made history.

Nominated for Best Picture for the film Brooklyn, she and her business partner Amanda Posey were the first female producing team to be nominated twice for the prestigious prize.

The first time was in 2010 for the coming-of-age tale An Education, which made a star of British actress Carey Mulligan.

Based in United Kingdom since the early 90s, Dwyer says she is still very much a Kiwi and believes being a New Zealander has been fundamental to her success.

"We tend to cut to the chase, push on and just get on with things. That's always been my approach," she told the Herald in 2016.

Born and raised in Wellington, Dwyer began her career at the National Film Unit before working as an editor at TVNZ, working on Country Calendar.

She quickly progressed to producing and created New Zealand's first successful talk show, McCormick. But after two seasons, she left New Zealand, following her then-husband to London, where he had taken up a job offer.

It took her nearly a year to find work as a producer, facing daily rejection from across the industry.

But a turning point came when she met British producer Stephen Woolley, who gave her a draft of a script based on the early days of the Beatles.

Three years later, Backbeat was released, produced by Dwyer and Woolley, earning widespread critical acclaim and Dwyer's first Bafta nomination (today, she has one win and four nominations to her name).

Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers name-checked Dwyer's contribution - something producers rarely achieve - writing: "Though Backbeat is an independent film, few producers can squeeze a tiny budget as artfully as Stephen Woolley and Finola Dwyer ..."

In 2016 Dwyer was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for her services to the film industry.

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