There will be an update on this petition at the ‘How to fight Racism @BFI’ event with Faisal Qureshi (Four Lions) on Thursday 2nd July 6.30pm central London details HERE

Meanwhile, it’s worth comparing the BFI’s enthusiasm for Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey film presently selling out the 500 seat BFI Imax cinema  HERE with the astonishing lack of coverage in Sight and Sound for the African Odysseys film series which regularly sold out the 450-seat BFI Southbank for two decades.

The £127 million taxpayer-funded BFI refused to produce a trailer for African Odysseys for twenty years stating they ‘had no money’ while BFI Flare was given a high-quality trailer each year for the last 12 years.

The consistent huge audiences and income produced by African Odysseys volunteers for the BFI charity, and the bizarre lack of coverage  by BFI is relevant to this petition as the African Odysseys Steering Group repeatedly approached Stuart Brown, Head of Programme and Acquisitions and Mike Williams, editor of Sight and Sound magazine about the exclusion from Sight and Sound long before George Floyd in 2020. In addition there were three official letters of complaint which included asking BFI to screen African diaspora films in the IMAX cinema.

Below is the second letter sent 5th May 2023 to BFI CEO Ben Roberts and Jason Wood Executive Director for Public Programmes /Audiences detailing the discrimination faced by African Odysseys in 2023 and requestion actions and giving solutions.

Dear Ben,

We have followed the recent revelations of institutional racism at the BFI (Four Lions) and other examples with great interest. It reminded us of our recent issues with the BFI as referenced in our original letter dated 23rd June 2020, please see attached.

You may remember there was a three-month delay before we got a response to that letter.

We also attach an email trail from Stuart Brown and David Somerset in 2020 to show that certain commitments were made that have yet to be enacted. This is separate to the fact that despite our remonstrations about how Black Panther 1 was handled we were again side-lined when it came to Black Panther 2, not to mention the Ken Fero experience.

Almost three years later there has not been much progress, so we thought this was the right time to re-address these issues.

The following are original issues/requests African Odysseys had plus some updates:

• African Odysseys branded programming on BFI iplayer to reflect our 16 years of under-represented film selections – it was a work in progress with Heather Stewart but fizzled out. This should be straightforward win-win and help with diversifying content, recognising our extensive knowledge while highlighting Black films.
• 
  A year-long static exhibition of African Odysseys flyers/posters on boards at the BFI Southbank. This could be placed in the main foyer or the connecting hallway between the box office and the entrance to NFT1. It would be a great way to recognise our longevity and expertise; showcase some of the excellent films we have screened over the last decade and a half and acknowledge our fantastic audience. We know that many people who attend now were not around 16 years ago and have never heard of a lot of our films.
  Access to BFI Imax for exhibiting certain films. Some films may be suited to this environment. Our regular audience should have the opportunity of this spectacular experience as Black films are under-represented in this space. For example, it maybe that there is a restored Harry Belafonte film that would look great on that screen.
• Stocking Black History Walks Vol 1 in the BFI bookshop permanently https://jacarandabooks.co.uk/products/black-history-walks-1?_pos=1&_sid=84e10ccae&_ss=r . The book has a unique and detailed chapter on the BFI/African Odysseys history and is the only book in the world to do so. It seems a no-brainer to have it on sale in the bookshop in genera quite apart from the lack of Black titles in there. It would also lead to increased sales from our loyal audience, especially directly after our events.
   
  Slideshow and trailer before each AO screening as happened prior to pandemic. This was standard at AO films but ceased once the pandemic took hold. It helps to inform the audience of our activities and makes people book at the box office for future AO films.
   
• Accreditation at London Film Festival so that at least one of our members can attend all the films of their choice. We realise that they are separate to you but there is a link and as our decades of voluntary activities add financial value to the BFI it is a small ask.
  Monthly feature in Sight and Sound. The representation of AO has been very poor, and we have pointed this out to them on numerous occasions. Again, we recognise this is a separate body to yourselves but after 16 years of pioneering programming and a monthly presence, we feel that the BFI as a body should be lobbying Sight and Sound on our behalf to reflect our importance. Post George Floyd it is difficult to understand why we even need to make the point about representation in that media.
   
  Your support for an entire book published on 16 years of AO - as was discussed previously. The BFI has contacts in publishing and there should be a permanent record of what African Odysseys has achieved for history’s sake. No other grassroots group and no other mainstream institution has done anything like it. As a grassroots collective of consultants our expertise alone is worth tens of thousands of pounds. That is also apart from the fact that our film choices often lead to sold out cinemas, most recently with Executive Order in April and Black Women in Broadcasting in March. Please see our letter of 23rd June 2020 for other such details of our ground-breaking activities.
• 
  Help for David Somerset with archiving our 16 years of content. This is a history in  itself and needs to be preserved regardless of the book
• 
  Documentary on AO history to be produced by BFI for YouTube.
• Better status and funding – this was covered in our first letter and needs no repetition. We are aware of funding cuts post Covid but we were under-resourced in the first place.
   

We hope that we can see progress on all of these issues in advance of June 22nd, Windrush day, which would be three entire years since we first raised these issues.

Sent on behalf of the African Odysseys Steering Committee

Obviously the BFI ignored these points raised just before Windrush Day in 2023 leading to this situation in 2026 just after Windrush Day.  Please continue to sign and share the petition and look out for the all day conference on Race, Film Funding and the BFI