Petition update 2nd April  2026

Thanks for your support. Please continue to sign/share the petition and updates on social media and tell your MP about African Odysseys. Here is a statement from BFI CEO Ben Roberts on racism.

..At the BFI, we are united against racism but we have not been actively antiracist. 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 need to embody the change we want to see, and be accountable as a public institution, looking like and reflecting the public we serve…

..the status quo in the film community is undoubtedly still a system that privileges whiteness, and it has persisted for too long.. 

These words were written on 17th June 2020, the year of George Floyd HERE

Sadly, 6 years later the BFI has failed to follow through on its words leading to this petition now at 17,853 and the following actions.

• On April 5th  Professor Linn Washington will give an online talk on funding attacks on Black history  in the USA with comparisons to UK institutions like the BFI. Details HERE
• On April 9th Judge Peter Herbert will give an in-person talk on 61 years of the Race Relations Act and how the BFI is breaching the 2010 Equality Act by refusing to run a Race Equality Impact Assessment. Details HERE . By way of comparison, the Royal London hospital was recently forced to reverse their decision to close their Sickle Cell Emergency Unit exactly because they had not done a REIA to consider the effect on the Black community. HERE 
• On April 10th filmmaker Faisal Querishi (Leaving Neverland Four Lions)  will give an in-person talk detailing his five  year struggle for racial justice @BFI HERE This includes the fact that, due to his complaint, the BFI admitted to systemic racism and ‘committed to continued anti-racism soul searching’ in 2023 HERE

This resulted in a public apology from BFI CEO Ben Roberts in October 2024 HERE Despite this, in January 2025, the BFI chose to remove all of the human and financial resources that facilitated African Odysseys after 18 years of grassroots curation of Black diaspora films and consistently full cinemas at BFI Southbank.

• On April 11th Professor Gus John will present African Odysseys films on Black British Civil Rights (50 Years of Struggle) and the crisis in the Caribbean. He will discuss the petition and racism at the BFI.HERE

This is very significant as his independent film ‘50 years of Struggle’ the story of his life, sold out the 450 seat BFI Southbank when screened by African Odysseys in 2015.  See the Q&A with Professor Gary Younge HERE

That film was made possible due to diverse filmmakers via the African Odysseys film  training programme subsidised by US filmmaker Tim Reid. Reid previously ran the largest Black-owned studio in the USA. Some graduates went on to work with Menelik Shabbaz whose films the BFI refused to show until African Odysseys championed them. This unique, sponsored training was organised by African Odysseys co-founder David Somerset.

‘50 Years’ is a perfect example of the kind of independent films African Odysseys platformed at the BFI but this very popular, educational, anti-racist programme was ended when they chose to make Somerset, the only person with two decades experience of Black film at the BFI, redundant in January 2025. The BFI also chose to delete the 48-week-job role Somerset occupied. This meant that the years worth of time and energy essential to produce the monthly  series ceased to exist.

All of this was against Professor John’s advice given in his open letter to Governor Jay Hunt and CEO Ben Roberts dated 1st October 2024 HERE

It was against the wishes of the all-volunteer African Odysseys Steering Committee which put £6 million of unpaid labour into the BFI as well as against the wishes of the global majority audience that African Odysseys brought to the BFI HERE

It must be noted that BFI  personnel:  CEO Ben Roberts, Governor Jay Hunt, Jason Wood Executive Director of Public Programmes and Audiences and Stuart Brown, Head of Programmes and Acquisitions, all refused to meet Professor Gus John on three separate occasions over a four-month period.

The BFI also refused to listen to over 20 other professors on the need to run a Race Equality Impact Assessment, despite Stuart Brown and Melanie Hoyes Director of Inclusion, agreeing to run one at a meeting with the Steering Committee on 2nd July 2024. Hoyes had previously admitted that BFI was racist in the Faisal Querishi case.

Professor Adoah Anjoh who is also an actor (Lady Danbury in Bridgerton) made this comment

“What a betrayal of our film history as British artists of African heritage I was so proud of the BFI for its support and championing - please rethink - this is a terrible terrible proposal” . Other high-profile signatures include Akala, Rudolph Walker, Clarke Peters, Courttia Newland, Dr Margaret Busby, Donna Kroll, Frances Anne Solomon, Bishop Rosemarie Mallett, Professor Matt Smith, Professor David Dabydeen and Professor Paul Gilroy.

Professor Gus John is an international  expert in race equality. He helped to write UK equality laws alongside Home Secretary Jack Straw. Professor John also specialises in training large institutions on how to implement equality policies. It is therefore perverse that BFI refused to meet him within days of  having to publicly apologise to Querishi for his treatment on race issues.

The BFI’s lack of accountability and lack of engagement  with its audience contrast hugely with the recent Rich Mix situation. A high-quality, global majority production by Remel London was described as ‘ghetto’ ‘nasty’ and ‘disgusting’ by the Rich Mix floor manager in front of a team of Black women. London expressed her shock on Linkedin and Instagram HERE and within weeks  Rich Mix CEO Judith Kilvington wrote a full apology with actionable points HERE

The situation at BFI is far worse and been going on for two years but the BFI has taken no responsibility for the cancellation and is gaslighting the general public by telling them that African Odysseys is ‘on pause’ after they destroyed all human and financial mechanisms for it to exist and sabotaged any meetings for it to continue, including cancelling the only meeting with just two hours’ notice HERE

Further, BFI staff have also signed the petition and lobbied for the programme to continue. They have reported a massive drop off in footfall since the petition began which is unsurprising as many of the  almost 18,000 petitioners no longer attend the BFI and tell others not to spend their money there due the BFI’s behaviour.

The shabby treatment of African Odysseys is particularly galling as Stuart Brown, at a minuted meeting on 29 August 2023 with the Steering Committee had agreed to a celebratory  year of events in 2026 to recognise 20 years of the unique programme. This fact was known to the 88% white executive team headed by Roberts.

A 2026 twentieth anniversary was clearly impossible if the cuts went ahead in January 2025.

It is therefore quite shocking   to see  BFI Sight and Sound boasting of celebrating the 40th anniversary of BFI Flare this March HERE especially as Flare has at least 12 staff members to run it. African Odysseys had only one staff member, who was over-worked, and only one job post but it was that staff member and that post that BFI chose to get rid of without any consultation.

The blatant discrimination is further evidenced as in November 2025 BFI advertised via Creative Access for two roles at BFI Flare for Press Assistant and Guest Assistant totalling £63,108.00 of salary less than a year after Somerset’s role was cut to ‘save money’. African Odysseys never had a press or guest assistant since 2007.

Why does Flare get to have 12 staff and at least £63,108.00 new spend while African Odysseys gets zero money and zero staff ? This relates to the eight questions asked of the BFI for over a year which they  have refused to answer HERE

Sight and Sound edited by Mike Williams failed to celebrate the 5th, 10th, 15th African Odysseys anniversaries and despite repeated sell-out cinemas and three separate complaints to CEO Ben Roberts,  chose to never interview or feature  the innovative African Odysseys curators and consistently failed to promote African Odysseys titles. To this day they have refused to tell the world the racial composition of Sight & Sound staff by rank and length of service.

Even the BFI’s response to this petition indicates their lack of commitment and transparency. Firstly they tried to take it down alleging that the cancellation was ‘not true’ HERE

Of the 24 updates which give various details of the facts of this ongoing mistreatment, the BFI has only responded once.  On 20th October 2024 when they said this:

Contrary to what is suggested in this petition, we have no desire or intention for it to end and we remain committed to it. We want to reassure people by categorically confirming that any outcome of the restructure will not impact or in any way diminish the BFI’s commitment to, or dedicated resourcing of, African Odysseys. 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.

As African Odysseys approaches its 20th anniversary in 2026, we have been discussing a celebratory season, and exploring ways to further our commitment to the strand, 

• This is more proof of the BFI broken promise to recognise 20 years in 2026, but the first paragraph is nonsensical as the person who co-founded African Odysseys and ran every event for almost two decades was removed and his job role deleted. The impact was catastrophic and the diminishment was 100%.
• Secondly the BFI was not in ‘close contact’ with the AO Steering Committee at all as Stuart Brown had explicitly told the Committee on 9th August 2024 that he did not want to communicate with them at all until November.  That shabby treatment led to the petition being launched on September 26th 2024.
• Thirdly for the same reason, it is further gaslighting to state that the BFI was planning any African Odyssey events for 2025 as they refused to communicate with the Steering Committee who work six months in advance.

The BFI intentionally misled the public with this public statement which they knew to be untrue. This is a breach of Charity Commission policy.

African Odysseys films and events continue across London using grassroots resources. Recent events showcased Professor Patrick Vernon and his 2000 hours of film archive; Ismahil Blagrove and his 30 years of film documentaries and international activism, London Recruits a rare film on white activists from London who volunteered to go undercover in South Africa to help Mandela fight apartheid, and events on the New Cross fire and the Black Peoples Day of Action. None of these events were funded with BFIs £127 million public cashpot.

END OF UPDATE. Demonstration details will be released later.