Parminder Vir (born April 1955) is a British business executive, filmmaker and television producer.

Biography

Vir was born in April 1955 in

Punjab, India Punjab () is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab, Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the States and union territories of India, Indian states ...

. She moved to England with her family when she was 10 years old. Her brother Arun also became a filmmaker. Vir started out as an

arts administrator Arts administration (alternatively arts management) is a field in the arts sector that facilitates programming within cultural organizations. Arts administrators are responsible for facilitating the day-to-day operations of the organization as we ...

with the Minorities' Arts Advisory Service before moving on to the

Commonwealth Institute The Commonwealth Education Trust was a registered charity established in 2007 as the successor trust to the Commonwealth Institute. The trust focuses on primary and secondary education and the training of teachers and invests on educational pr ...

. She then joined the

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

as Head of the Race Equality Unit for Arts and Recreation. In 1986, Vir produced a showreel on black filmmaking in Britain, which was viewed by senior

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

executives and led to an offer of work there. Starting out as a researcher, she progressed to assistant producer and eventually to series producer, staying with the BBC until 1994. Thereafter, she continued to make programmes for the BBC under the aegis of her own production company, Formation Films. In 1991, she produced two programmes for the BBC series ''Our War,'' in which Middle Eastern directors explored the effect of the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

on their different countries and people. This was followed by more international documentaries such as ''Algeria – Women at War'' (1992, made for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's ''Critical Eye'' season), ''The Sex Warriors and the Samurai'' (1995, for Channel 4's ''Secret Asia'' series), ''African Eyes on Europe'' (1995, broadcast ZDF/Arté, Germany), and a mini-series on the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. In 1998, she produced the feature film '' Babymother'', a reggae musical set in West London, and in 2000 she produced the second series of ''Single Voices'', four half-hour comedy monologues by selected writers. She worked with leading media investment companies in the UK including Ingenious Media Investments and

Goldcrest Films Goldcrest Films is an independent British distribution, production, post production, and finance company. Operating from London and New York, Goldcrest is a privately owned integrated filmed entertainment company. Goldcrest Films oversees the pr ...

, where she advised on the investment of a £20m capital fund that included investments in

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

-winning and critically acclaimed feature films. In May 1996, Vir was appointed the diversity advisor at

Carlton Television Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Tele ...

and in 1999 to the board of the

UK Film Council The UK Film Council (UKFC) was a non-departmental public body set up in 2000 to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee, owned by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and ...

. She also served on other private and public sector boards including the UKTI Asia Task Force, UK India Business Council, Non-Executive Director of

, the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport, and

The Indus Entrepreneurs Tie has two principal meanings: * Tie (draw), a finish to a competition with identical results, particularly sports * Necktie, a long piece of cloth worn around the neck or shoulders Tie or TIE may also refer to: Engineering and technology * T ...

UK. Vir was the chief executive officer of the Tony Elumelu Foundation from 2014 till 2018, and is a senior adviser to the Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance.

Recognition

Vir was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to the broadcasting and film industry during the

2002 Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in sup ...

Personal life

In 1985, she married Julian Henriques, film director and professor of media and communications at

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by ...

, and they have two daughters."Parminder Vir OBE".
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vir, Parminder 1955 births Businesspeople from Punjab, India Businesswomen from Punjab, India Indian chief executives Indian women chief executives Living people Officers of the Order of the British Empire Indian emigrants to England British people of Indian descent British people of Punjabi descent British chief executives British women chief executives 20th-century British businesswomen 21st-century British businesswomen