The British producer of films such as Chariots of Fire, The Killing Fields and The Mission said both filmmaking and politics shared a need for a greater moral purpose.

David Puttnam, honoured as Lord Puttnam since being made a Baron in 1997, spent 30 years bringing some of the world's most memorable stories to the screen.

He retired in 1998 to focus on his passion for education and the environment, working diligently in the UK's House of Lords.

The 73-year-old visited Brisbane this week to present a live lecture to Griffith University Students, capping off a year of guest lectures presented via sophisticated teleconferencing from his home in Ireland.

"I don't even try to teach them how to make movies, because the pace of technology makes that almost impossible," he said.

"I teach them why to make movies - what the moral purpose of movies can be, the way in which they can change lives."

After winning 10 Oscars, 25 BAFTAs and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Lord Puttnam sensed a hesitance to the weighty subject matter and intense characterisation typical of his movies.

"I just didn't see how the type of films I wanted to make were going to get made anymore," he said.

"I didn't want to make sequels to movies, and I didn't really want to work on star-heavy vehicles - for me it was all about storytelling and developing engagement with an audience."

Having already helped develop public policy in the education sector, Lord Puttnam made that a focus of his subsequent political career, as well as the environment, communications, parliamentary democracy and trade.

Despite his affiliation with the British Labour Party, he said all sides were lacking people willing to put personal conviction ahead of party politics and polls.

"I think that politics in England would benefit enormously by being able to bring people in who had expertise, who had done other jobs in the outside world," he said.

"Most junior ministers in the UK with enormous responsibility are just passing through - it's a job they're doing on their way to another job, and that isn't the way really good policy is developed."

Many of the Griffith students Lord Puttnam was teaching are hoping to get work on Pirates of the Caribbean 5, which confirmed last week that it would shoot in Queensland in early 2015.

He said the multi-million dollar blockbuster would be a good boost for the state's film industry.

"It's an opportunity for people to develop their skills and become better at them, and to become known to a much, much wider group of people," he said.

"Interestingly enough my daughter in the UK is working on it in the costume area."

Lord Puttnam said the one aspect of movie-making he missed was working with energetic creative teams which shared the same objective.

And far from having showbiz horror stories, he said he only had good memories of the actors he worked with, citing Helen Mirren and Vanessa Redgrave as two extraordinary examples of professionalism.

"The degree to which they were prepared to help other artists at work was awesome," he said. "They were partly performers and partly teachers."

Another example was from 1984's The Killing Fields, which featured Khmer Rouge survivor Haing S Ngor as refugee Cambodian journalist Dith Pran, a role for which he won an Oscar.

"Haing Ngor was not an actor, but the amazing professionalism and generosity of [co-star] Sam Waterston in helping make his performance is something I'll remember all of my life," Lord Puttnam said.

He may have a title, but even the one time advertising agent turned film producer admits it's an odd feeling to be a "lord".

"There's something about a Lord, it sounds a bit too 'Lordly'," he said, with a laugh.

"People assume you walk around draped in ermine, which is not quite the case … it would be very hot at the beach."