Thanks for signing and sharing the petition, please continue and use the memes, as above, on your social media. More actions below.

On the 26th of March the BFI sent a message about African Odysseys to its entire mailing list. The text can be seen HERE The message is supposed to be about the cancellation of African Odysseys by the BFI but it does not mention:

·       The 16,000 strong petitions in support of African Odysseys continuing.

·       That it is the BFI cuts/redundancies that have led to the cancellation of African Odysseys

·       That the BFI refused to run a Race Equality Impact Assessment (REIA) before making the cuts/redundancies which led to the cancellation

·       That the BFI has ignored every piece of advice given to it by the African Odysseys Steering Committee as evidenced in this 5 month old petition and its 10 updates

The BFI message includes this comment ‘we have not yet been able to agree on a shared approach to managing it.’

This quote is very peculiar because:

·       There has been no meeting between BFI and the African Odysseys Committee since July 2024

·       In July 2024 the BFI agreed they would run a REIA as they had not thought of it before the Committee suggested it.  The meeting was held with Stuart Brown, Justin Johnson and Melanie Hoyes. The BFI later changed their mind and refused to do it.

·       It was the BFI’s senior manager, Stuart Brown, who on 9th August unilaterally told the Committee he did not want to communicate with them at all which led to a 13-week embargo on any discussion.

It was the BFI that refused an offer made on 1st October to meet with Professor Gus John, to find a solution for African Odysseys. Professor Gus John is an international expert who consults with governments on race equality. He trains large institutions on race equality practice, in particular Race Equality Impact Assessments, and he helped to write some of the recent laws on equality. His offer was rebuffed by BFI CEO Ben Roberts who is the same person who wrote the words ‘we have not yet been able to agree on a shared approach to managing it’. Professor John’s open letter can be read HERE

·       It was the BFI that unilaterally cancelled a meeting with the African Odysseys Steering Committee including Professor Gus John, two hours before it should have started on 17th January.  This was reported by Black History Month magazine HERE

·       It was the BFI that has refused to answer 8 simple questions on racial equality asked by the Steering Committee since July 2024:

1.            Who is responsible for the restructure?

2.            Who decided not to conduct a Race Equality Impact Assessment, and what are their qualifications? When was that decision made?

3.            Why does BFI Flare have eight times more staff than African Odysseys?

4.            Why has Flare received a BFI-produced trailer annually for 10 years, while African Odysseys has been denied one for 17 years?

5.            What is the budget for African Odysseys?

6.            What is the racial composition of BFI’s Sight & Sound staff by rank and length of service?

7.            Why has Sight & Sound excluded African Odysseys for 17 years despite its significance?

8.            Was ‘What If’ informed about the Steering Committee’s 2020 and 2023 complaints of racial discrimination to CEO Ben Roberts when they were involved with diversity training of BFI staff?

Bearing in mind the above behaviour, how can the BFI write to the tens of thousands on its mailing list  stating ‘we have not yet been able to agree on a shared approach to manage it’ and give none of the above context?

It gives the impression that there has been some sort of discussion, which is not true and obscures the fact that the BFI has repeatedly blocked  all attempts at dialogue and disrespected a unique, loyal voluntary group with 17 years of experience

The BFI has totally failed to engage with the 16,000 strong petition, the Black community and the dedicated volunteers who created and run the highly popular programme of educational, anti-racist, African diaspora films.

It is the Steering Committee that is responsible for bringing hundreds of thousands of Black people to the BFI Southbank which was not the case before 2007 due to racism at the BFI.

From the time the Committee heard about the proposed cuts and redundancies they said that if they went ahead, it would mean the end of African Odysseys. The BFI went ahead with the cuts/redundancies and ended African Odysseys.

Ironically the BFI’s decision to email their entire mail list about the absence of African Odysseys proves the point the Committee made in writing in June 2024.  They stated that ending African Odysseys would have a catastrophic impact on the BFI audience.

The Committee repeatedly requested that before the BFI  did anything to affect the delivery of the programme  like; making the only person with 17 years of experience  of Black film history redundant and deleting his job role so no one else could carry on the work,  would devastate African Odysseys and its audience. For that reason a Race Equality Impact Assessment was essential.

A Racial Equity Impact Assessment (REIA) is a systematic examination of how different racial and ethnic groups will likely be affected by a proposed action or decision. REIAs are used to minimize unanticipated adverse consequences in a variety of contexts, including the analysis of proposed policies, institutional practices, programs, plans and budgetary decisions. The REIA can be a vital tool for preventing institutional racism..

If it was the case that the absence  of African Odysseys  was irrelevant for the entire BFI audience and there was no need to consult them about its potential removal, then why has the BFI just emailed its entire audience about the absence  of African Odysseys?

On the one hand the BFI can tell its entire audience:

‘The influence of African Odysseys can be felt across all BFI programme from showcasing Black British stories, to promoting new African and African diaspora voices.’

On the other hand the BFI has repeatedly refused to consult with that same audience about the African Odysseys programme ending.

This is a massive contradiction especially from an 88% white management team in a London that 46% black and Asian.

It is also self-evidently significant that the BFI has not had to email its entire mailing list about any other strand of diversity; age, gender etc, and that BFI Flare, with its full complement of 8 staff compared to African Odysseys single staff member, just screened 50 films. Meanwhile, there are no more African Odyssey films at all because the single staff member responsible for African Odysseys has been made redundant by the BFI against the wishes of 16,000 people and without doing an REIA.

Outraged members of the public at various meetings are calling for more actions. Here are some of the things you can  do.

• Write or call in to the BFI to complain
• Revoke your BFI membership and tell them why
• Sign and share the petition
• Share this update to anyone who received the BFI email of 26th March
• Check out the comments some of 16,000 people are leaving on the petition
• Share the comments/memes to your socials
• Volunteer to make signs for the demonstration
• Contact your MP about the cancellation and refusal to do a REIA
• Read all of the 10 petition updates (scroll to bottom on this link)