The petition is now at 13,700. Please keep sharing and signing with your networks.
On the 18th November the legal department of British race equality group sent 11 Freedom of Information questions to the BFI. The questions are below.
The questions have been asked of senior BFI management but repeatedly evaded, since June 2024 when the cuts/redundancies were discovered. The legal nature of the FOI submission means the BFI must respond by 13th December.
Question 10 and 11 have specific historical relevance to Black British Civil Rights.
The Race Equality Impact Assessment came out of 2010 British race equality legislation which is directly linked to the 2000 Race Relations Amendment Act. The 2000 act came about because of the Stephen Lawrence murder in 1993 and the subsequent campaign for racial justice.
One purpose of the REIA is to ensure that majority white executive boards, like the BFI, do not make decisions without the informed consent of the global majority groups they are often making decisions about.
The Black-led African Odysseys educational, anti-racist film series is the only such programme in Europe. It has been running monthly for 17 years with sell out cinemas as recently as December 1st ‘Mugabe and Me’ and November 22nd ‘Go tell it on the mountain’.
These popular events were produced by the same person the BFI wishes to make redundant; the only person with 17 years of Black film expertise at the BFI and the co-founder of African Odysseys. The BFI also wish to get rid of the job position, which for 17 years, has enabled the programme to be produced.
After 6 months, the BFI cannot explain how, if they ‘value African Odysseys and are committed to it’ they would eliminate 200% of the resources which make it happen. They also cannot explain how the programme would continue without those resources. This is indicative of systemic, institutional racism which was already highlighted by mainstream media in 2023 by other groups HERE
This is a sample of the kind of films shown. HERE
13.700 people, in addition to the expert Steering Committee who set up and run the programme since 2007, are requesting that the British Film Institute do what is already best practice, standard protocol and legally expected, by running a REIA and asking the public what they think and how they will be affected by the proposed cuts/redundancies. The BFI should have done this before such cuts/redundancies were announced and had a plan for any feedback.
The BFI on 13th November, after deliberately ignoring the Steering Committee for 13 weeks and 5 days, requested a meeting to discuss the petition and programming.
The last time the Committee met with BFI was on July 2nd, 2024, when management agreed to do a REIA. It took the BFI an entire month of being chased by the Committee to then state on 9th August they were NOT going to do a REIA and furthermore that management thought ‘no progress was being made’ and they would get back to the Committee when they felt like it. That decision was totally one-sided and not agreed.
The 13th of November was the first communication from management since 9th August. That email further proves that the BFI statement to the public made on 29th October...
Having been in close contact with our partners in the African Odysseys steering committee, the BFI is also fully committed to continuing to work with them positively and collaboratively to programme and present regular African Odysseys events on at least a monthly basis throughout 2025. HERE
was false as there was no contact or planning whatsoever between 9th August and 13th November.
On the 25th November and 4th December the Committee responded that; despite the BFI deliberate waste of three months and them going back on their agreement to run an REIA, they were content to meet on the minimum criteria that the 11 questions asked in the FOI submission were fully answered.
The legal deadline for the BFI to respond is 13th December. They should have been able to answer these questions since June 13th when the Committee sent a detailed letter titled ‘Cancelling African Odysseys’ to BFI CEO Ben Roberts. Excessive delays are another indicator of institutional racism.
FOI questions as below
We write pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
On the 8th October 2024 the BFI responded to the African Odysseys Change.org petition ‘Save 17 Years of Black Film history at the British Film Institute’[1] . The response was posted on the BFI website. It said as follows
‘The African Odysseys event series has been a valuable and vitally important part of the BFI programme for 17 years and it remained so. There is some misleading information around the programme out there and we want to reassure everyone that we have no desire or intention for it to end and we will remain committed to it.’[2]
Despite the statement above we are not aware of any detail having been provided publicly or to the African Odysseys Steering Committee that indicates how the BFI intend to continue with the groundbreaking programme after the proposed restructure and departure of David Somerset from his role as Film Programmer of the AO programme within BFI.
Please see below a request in relation to the AO programme.
1. Please can you provide details of the role, at the BFI, that will assume responsibility for running the AO programme and when that responsibility will commence.
2. In relation to the role identified in (1) above please confirm that:
i. the role holder will be required to have detailed knowledge and experience of the diverse range of films that should be shown as part of the African Odysseys programme as presently evidenced.
ii. the role holder be required to have extensive industry links and contacts with film makers from the African continent, the Caribbean and the America’s
iii. the role and role holder will have the same number of hours attached to it as were allocated to David Somerset’s role in delivering African Odysseys
3. Please confirm whether the AO Steering Committee will play any part in the recruitment of the role holder who is to assume responsibility for AO in the future.
4. Please provide details of the consultation process that took place with the AO Steering Committee regarding the restructure, to include:
i. Dates of meetings
ii. Copy minutes/notes
5. Please confirm when the BFI last formally met with the AO Steering Committee in connection with the issues raised in their Change.org petition. If no meetings have taken place, please explain the reasoning.
6. Please provide details as to what steps have been taken to ensure that the AO programme will be seamlessly delivered after the departure of David Somerset. To this end, please confirm the timeline from selecting a film to it being shown at the BFI.
7. Please provide specific details of what remaining ‘committed to it [the AO programme]’ means in practice generally and, specifically in relation to resourcing.
8. Please provide details of resources previously dedicated to AO and in comparison, resources dedicated to other programmes like Seniors, BFI Flare LGBT films and events , Accessible screenings.
9. Please confirm what proportion/percentage of the education budget has been and will in the future be dedicated to the AO programme.
10. We are aware that a decision was made that no Equality Impact Assessment was undertaken regarding the changes to the AO delivery as a result of the restructure, please provide an explanation as to:
i. why that decision was made
ii. who made it
iii. and when.
11. Please detail how, in restructuring, you have met your obligations to the public sector equality duty requirements of sec 149 Equality Act 2010, which state that as a public body the BFI should have due regard to the need to (a) eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under this Act; (b) advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it; (c) foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.
Please respond to the requested information, electronically, by e-mail only to xxx
You have an obligation pursuant to s 16 FOIA 2000 to assist and advise requesters. If you believe that an exemption applies to the disclosure of the requested information please let us know without delay and set up which exemption applies if it is in relation to the cost exemption we will refine our request.
If any of the requested information is prohibited on the grounds of confidence please redact the exempted information with black boxes, so as to show where the reductions have been made.
A response this request is required within 20 working days of today. We look forward to hearing from you by Friday 13th December 2024
[1] https://www.change.org/p/save-17-years-of-black-film-history-at-british-film-institute/u/33015573
[2] https://www.bfi.org.uk/news/note-regarding-our-african-odysseys-series#:~:text=The%20African%20Odysseys%20event%20series,we%20remain%20committed%20to%20it