International film veteran Lawrence Safir, 62, died in London on August 5 after a long illness.

London-born Safir, the son of film executive Sidney Safir, started his career 1966 at Warner Bros in Paris and then moved back to London to work for Anglo Amalgamated Film Distributors and then British Lion Film. For the latter, he worked on Nic Roeg’s Don’t Look Now and comedies by the Boulting Brothers.

After British Lion merged with EMI in 1977, Safir and his father set up independent sales company Safir Films, one of the first UK-based independent sales companies. They worked with projects including Bruce Beresford’s Breaker Morant, Gillian Armstrong’s My Brilliant Career, and Philip Noyce’s Heatwave.

From 1992 to 1998, he served as vice chairman on the Executive Committee of the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA - then known as AFMA) and on its board of directors from 1998 to 2002. From 1993 until the time of his death, he served as IFTA’s vice-president of European Affairs.

He also worked with AGICOA, British Screen Advisory Council, FIAPF, Film Export UK, ISAN-IA and PACT, and taught classes on film sales at the Media Business School in Madrid.

He is survived by his wife and three children, and a brother and sister.

Services will be held on Friday in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire.

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