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In the 60th year since the 1965 Race Relations Act, the BFI has chosen to cancel the popular and longest-running Black History film series, African Odysseys, against the wishes of 17,400 people. The 18-year-old programme has a track record of filling the Southbank 450 seat cinema. 

The BFI cannot justify the decision as the films frequently sold out and were curated by grassroots volunteers who generated over £6 million in labour/consultancy for the institution HERE . This effort was clearly not appreciated but is one of the many reasons they should have run a race equality impact assessment as required by the 2010 Public Sector Equality duty which they refused to do. 

After an entire year of refusing to meet the curators of the Steering Committee and refusing to answer 8 simple questions HERE. The BFI are now:

• Deleting comments from their YouTube channel which mention African Odysseys
• Ignoring/refusing to respond to written complaints/questions
• Telling their audience that African Odysseys is 'on pause’
• Telling their audience that the Steering Committee made 'unreasonable demands’ which led to the cancellation. Please note, the only 'demands' made were to answer these 8 questions HERE
• Telling their audience that senior management and governors did not know that African Odysseys would end if BFI went ahead with the cuts/redundancies. This is despite the fact that BFI CEO Ben Roberts and Chair of Governors Jay Hunt were repeatedly told this in writing since last year and despite the presence of this 17,400 petition launched on September 26th 2024 and the 18 updates since HERE

This behaviour cannot be separated from the current climate of attacks on Black history provision in UK universities and museums overseas or the abuse directed at the Windrush generation. The 80-year-old Professor Gus John was twice disrespected by the BFI after he offered his considerable expertise to them for free and wrote them an extensively researched nine page open letter HERE His offer was dismissed by CEO Ben Roberts. This behaviour can be seen as the culmination of 17 years of discrimination against the curation, promotion and archiving of African Diaspora films at the BFI and the huge audiences of black and white people that came to view them.

As proof of this history of race problems at the BFI, read below the letter of protest sent to CEO Ben Roberts and Heather Stewart by the African Odysseys Steering Committee on 23rd June 2020, the year of George Floyd. This formal letter was sent after many years of informal complaints.

The BFI has taken no action to address these multiple serious issues, for example, in five entire years, Sight and Sound edited by Mike Williams, has never done a feature on African Odysseys' repeated full houses, successful premieres, or numerous talented African diaspora producers/directors. Even superstars like Terry Jervis with an incredible track record in Hollywood/Motown/BBC etc HERE was repeatedly ignored. That trailer was filmed at the BFI Southbank. The BFI/Sight and Sound knew full well about such amazing Black success stories but acted to suppress them, repeatedly for 17 years, despite numerous requests from the Steering Committee that was filling up their Southbank cinemas with Black audiences that had never been there before.

The lack of action by the 88% white executive management team, which was totally white until 2021, are self-evident in this cancellation without consultation and performative interest in African diaspora cinema.

African Odysseys is still showing films at other London venues. Next event with Professor Patrick Vernon on Black soldiers in World Wars and racism @BFI  is on 27th November details https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/world-wars-and-black-soldiers-african-odysseys-bfi-tickets-1595716403719?aff=oddtdtcreator

The below email was sent to the BFI on 23 June 2020 by the African Odysseys Steering Committee:

Dear Ben Roberts (Chief Executive, BFI)

I trust all is well during this precarious COVID 19 period as we navigate unchartered waters.

Perhaps it is befitting that in the wake of National Windrush Day, we extend greetings to you in your post as the new Chief Executive. We welcome the sentiments expressed in your stewarding statement found on BFI’s website. It directly relates to our longstanding, socially and economically marginalised but successful African Odysseys programme.

The African Odysseys Steering Committee (AO) has been established for almost 14 years. We draw upon reputable and award-winning expertise from the UK and beyond. We program, research and champion often sold out NFT1/2 and 3 screenings. We host icons of the film industry, award-winning filmmakers and continue to introduce BFI audiences to film from the international African Diaspora. However, we remain a substantial resource that is marginalised and ignored in the main with few exceptions. As such, we welcome your official stewarding letter on the BFI’s website 17 June stating:

‘At the BFI, we are united against racism but we have not been actively anti-racist. We know there are some longstanding and endemic issues within the organisation which can harm people and undermine our values. Whilst we are not alone in confronting this truth, it is crucial that we have uncomfortable conversations not just with each other, but also with those who have been marginalised or ignored’.

We would like to bring to your attention the fact that the African Odysseys consultative group, a voluntary grassroots body, has used its expertise to identify, research, source, promote, present and advertise an enormous wealth of African/Caribbean films, talks, workshops and special events at the BFI over a 13 year period. This is unprecedented in the entire UK. No other institution can boast of anything like it.

African Odysseys have regularly packed out NFT1/2/3 cinemas and the Blue Room conference centre since 2007 on a monthly basis. We have put on sold out standalone films; conceived and delivered successful seasons including Black and Banned, Raoul Peck, Horace Ove; and presented regular special NFT1 events such as Sisters in Science Fiction, Black British Civil Rights etc. Our success has derived from our proximity with the Black British community across all ages and social backgrounds.

The African Odysseys group draws in high profile speakers such as US studio owner Tim Reid, author Imruh Bakari, Chair of the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) Colin Prescod, actor Donna Kroll, Booker prize judge and editor Margaret Busby OBE, US actor Clarke Peters, director and veteran Jamaican British actress Esther Anderson, and a host of up and coming and established talent. At a time of dwindling budgets, we have repeatedly filled up BFI cinemas and generated income.

Our track record should speak for itself. However, it seems that our loyalty, commitment, and expertise have been overlooked and taken for granted. For example, BFI current online viewing content includes material under the banner of Black Star; this was a one-off season that was given considerable marketing and promotion but had limited success.  At the same time, the BFI Player online content does not mention or reflect the hundreds of titles and Q&As we have curated in this BFI strand over the last 13 years. We highlight these examples because it seems that African Odysseys (AO) is not worthy of current BFI Player online content. This begs the question of how committed the BFI actually is to diversity and inclusion.

At a time when our sustained focus on the Black British experience over a decade could be invaluable, we have not been consulted as to what the BFI could or should do about the Black Lives Matter international protests. This is odd given our insight in this area. In fact, the African Odysseys programme could have been used as an example of best practice in a public institution. For example, in 2014 African Odysseys featured a Ken Fero day as part of the programme at the BFI. Fero is an investigative documentary film maker whose seminal film ‘Injustice’ exploring deaths of Black British people in custody was temporarily banned. Long before Black Lives Matter became a trend African Odysseys was championing the issue. The post-screening speakers panel featured local civil rights activists but also film critic Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian. The event was hosted by Colin Prescod (IRR); he is a regular BFI speaker, whose own seminal film ‘Blacks Britannica’ was also featured in the African Odysseys programme and is currently featured on BFI Player. Disappointingly, our expertise in civil rights for the Black British community has not been drawn upon, at this time, though it would be highly appropriate.

Another earlier illustration of a missed opportunity was the rejection of the AO proposal to host the recent blockbuster ‘Black Panther’ at the BFI. This approach was made  twice to the BFI in the autumn of 2017 long before the film became an international success. Both approaches were rebuffed. Directly because of the rejection, we arranged for Black Panther to be shown at the Genesis Cinema in east London with a screen date of 18 th February 2018. We were, therefore, incredibly surprised when in late January the BFI announced a screening of Black Panther plus Q&A with the director on February 9 th 2018. None of the African Odysseys consultative group were contacted or even invited to the evening. To make matters worse, an outside agency was brought in to stage the event. This was a slap in the face for the African Odysseys Steering Committee and a further example of inexplicable marginalisation.

Our grassroots group was the first organisation to advertise a Black Panther screening. Tickets went on sale on 15 th December and sold out in five days. On Saturday 18 th February, we handled 2000 people and three expert Q&As, plus we arranged to do another screening at Genesis during the week, with equally strong numbers. This could have happened at the BFI.

During the last year, we have been joined at our meetings by lead staff, including Liz Parkinson (Press), to insure best practice for African Odysseys group. Sebastian Stern (Marketing) attended and was highly supportive of our programme and committed to continuing dedicated flyer publicity to our monthly screenings as well as seasons (REGGAE was scheduled for August before lockdown). Mr Stern confirmed that our season Black and Banned surpassed expectations around attendance figures of other Black film programmes and that the African Odysseys strand was an ongoing success story. Sight and Sound’s Kieron Corless met with us recently and said that now with a new editor in post there would be opportunities for S&S to work closely with AO and overcome some of the past omissions in coverage of Black film culture. Our last meeting was with the LFF’s director, Ms Tricia Tuttle. Ms Tuttle said that the LFF would partner on a special event with African Odysseys in this year’s LFF and that the LFF team would also work closely with AO to identify films within the LFF team radar, which would be appropriate to AO audiences.

Now is the opportunity for the BFI to fully recognise, appreciate and take advantage of the wealth of expertise already on its doorstep. The following steps would diversify your output, recognise the AO steering group for its dedicated work, assist the BFI with positioning itself for the coming period of uncertainty and further develop an under-served diverse audience which is hungry for content.

In summary, we propose that:

African Odysseys content should be featured on BFI Player and be branded as such and included for online consumption via pay per view or subscription
African Odysseys steering group to be included in the debate and decision-making process on current issues to do with race, history and film
African Odysseys should get first opportunity to host new Black films previewed at the BFI and expose them to our loyal and extended audience that we have developed at the BFI over the last 13 years
African Odysseys programme should have an increased investment of money, promotion, time, and resources
The BFI should incorporate our regular, highly popular ‘fringe’ talks and workshops held in the Blue Room (as part of our audience development programme) into the BFI’s mainstream agenda and programmes
The BFI should work with African Odysseys and use BFI resources to deliver a national film exhibition programme throughout the UK
All African Odysseys Q&A sessions should be filmed and broadcast across the on-line BFI provision (BFI Player and You Tube)
During the current period, certain AO titles should be premiered online with Q&A with AO selected panel, over the next 6 months
AO should have at least 700 words of dedicated space in every issue of Sight and Sound to discuss and promote our work as the lead programme for Black film in the UK
AO should be consulted on any African/Caribbean themed events at the BFI
African Odysseys will have the agreed event slot in the LFF (from 2020, as agreed) as well as a dedicated section in the LFF programme (like FLARE, SONIC etc) featuring films that relate to our core identity – an educational events programme of feature films and documentary by and about the peoples of Africa and its diaspora and acknowledge the work of the African Odysseys Steering Committee
While we appreciate the difficulties you face, now is the right time for the BFI to rise to meet these challenges by drawing from the in-house portfolio and expertise available through the African Odysseys Consultative Group.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

African Odysseys Consultative Group at the BFI Southbank