Thanks for your continued support. Please carry on sharing/signing the petition and these updates. The boycott continues to be effective and the dates for the BFI Town Hall and other direct actions will be announced shortly.
The next ‘How to Fight Racism at the British Film Institute’ workshop’ is on Thursday July 2nd HERE where Faisal Qureshi will detail his 5 year fight to get justice from the BFI resulting in a public apology from BFI CEO Ben Roberts in October 2024.
It is noteworthy that within the same period as saying sorry for the Qureishi race scandal , Ben Roberts refused to meet with the renowned equality campaigner Professor Gus John despite his nine-page letter offering his expertise to solve BFI’s considerable race problems HERE Professor John had worked with the British government on laws to address the legacy of Stephen Lawrence so such a rejection was remarkable considering the their poor record on race issues.
To explain how the BFI is breaching best practice/common sense and further alienating the global majority whilst wasting taxpayers money; consider the screenshot above from Arts for All: Tackling Barriers to Arts and Cultural Participation in London. HERE
This 2025 study by Rob Anderson and Daniel Reast was sponsored by Culture Mile Bid and the Greater London Authority.
A quick scan shows that the BFI is doing the exact opposite of those recommendations and has repeatedly disregarded and disrespected the specific wishes of the African diaspora.
The African Odysseys volunteer team was doing all of those audience first recommendations since 2007 when David Somerset started working there. Somerset had previously worked collaboratively with minoritised communities at the Museum of Docklands. He brought that work ethic to the BFI with Tony Warner who was involved with multiple, grassroots groups. These actions resulted in regular ,sold-out 450 cinemas at Southbank with fantastic Q&A’s with massive crowds that did not even know where BFI was until African Odysseys came along.
One can see a visible example of the type of big audience and vibrant atmosphere from 2007/2009 at a screening of the banned 1971 film ‘Goodbye Uncle Tom’. The Q&A featured Sir John Akomfrah, Colin Prescod, Mark Goodall and Dami Akinussi HERE
Some of the 450 audience stayed at the venue for 6 hours discussing the film but also buying drinks/ food/future film tickets , and BFI membership increasing BFIs footfall and profits.
If the ticket price for a single sold-out, African Odysseys event was £10 then one screening would bring in £4500.00. All of this money, times 20 years, went to the BFI as the African Odysseys Steering committee was not paid for all the consultancy, marketing , promotion they did.
So how in 2025 could the BFI refuse to meet the volunteers that made this possible since 2007 and cancel, with no public consultation ,this unique , popular, money-making programme that brought hundreds of thousands of diverse bums to BFI seats ? The BFI cancelled the monthly series to 'save money and promote diversity'.
That decision is even more peculiar as in December 2025 the BFI found money to advertise with Creative Access for two roles at BFI Flare for Press Assistant and Guest Assistant totalling £63,108.00 of salary. Flare has at least 12 staff. African Odysseys had only 1 staff member, David Somerset, but not only was he selected for redundancy but his entire job role was deleted meaning that African Odysseys could no longer exist. This is especially perverse as BFI senior manager Stuart Brown at a previous meeting with the African Odysseys volunteers had agreed that Somerset was overworked and needed extra help to deliver African Odysseys.
This is exactly why a legally required Race Equality Impact Assessment should have been done as argued by Professor Gus John in his letter to Roberts. Professor John had helped write the 2000s Equality law alongside Home Secretary Jack Straw.
In fact in July 2024 the African Odysseys Steering Committee had agreed via an online meeting with Stuart Brown and Melanie Hoyes, Head of Inclusion, that an REIA would be done. Brown later reversed his decision, then refused to talk to the Steering Committee volunteers for three months.
Its seems a double standard is at play especially when the publicly funded BFI have never had 18,260 request the preservation of a film series that made money and attracted diverse audiences.
Double standards continue below as to how white managers are treated compared to black managers
Misan Harriman Chair of the Southbank Centre has been heavily criticised by the media for standing up for human rights and racial equality. Meanwhile, next door at the taxpayer-funded BFI Southbank, CEO Ben Roberts , Chair Jay Hunt Deputy CEO Harriet Finney, senior manager Jason Wood have received no such criticism, far less calls to resign, despite being fully responsible for:
The Stuart Brown/Clive Nwonka 'appointment' scandal HERE
The Faisal Qureshi 5 year failure HERE
Ignoring 18,260 people who want African Odysseys HERE
Breaking the law by refusing to run a legally required Race Equality Impact Assessment HERE
Repeatedly refusing to meet the Black community HERE
Wasting £6 million of sponsorship HERE
Disrespecting Black and Asian elders like Professor Gus John and Tariq Ali HERE
Disregarding the advice of over 25 academics HERE
Breaking their own promise to celebrate 20 years of African Odysseys in 2026 HERE
Misleading MPs and the general public as to the status of African Odysseys HERE
Failing to answer 8 basic questions for 2 years despite their alleged commitment to ‘transparency’ and community engagement HERE
Bringing the BFI into disrepute by repeatedly breaching their own protocols and failing in their remit to preserve film history HERE plus, all of the above
The BFI is not alone in attacking Black history/education and culture, see also Birmingham City University and the recent cancellation of Professor Kehinde Andrews Black studies course, also done with no consultation and no REIA HERE