9 examples of racism @BFI Southbank: African Odysseys
Following on from the astonishing reality that privately owned Picturehouse and Curzon cinemas have weekly film shows catering for dogs but the taxpayer-funded BFI is refusing to cater to 19,000 global majority humans who support African Odysseys (the monthly educational, anti-racist, Black history film series) here are 9 simple facts to show the BFI’s extensive racial discrimination history which led to this petition. Please share this national scandal to social media/journalists.
1. No ‘Anti-Racist Champions’
BFI Chair of Governors Jay Hunt told Parliament in January 2025 that she was appointing two ‘anti-racist champions’ due to the Faisal Querishi case as reported by Deadline news HERE. Two years later BFI refuses to identify these people even though it has fumbled through two more race scandals :
Tariq Ali exclusion HERE
Stuart Brown/Nwonka scandal HERE
This is apart from the ongoing discrimination against African Odysseys which triggered this petition in September 2024 when Stuart Brown, Head of Programmes and Acquisitions refused to answer questions, meet or communicate with the volunteers who ran the programme for 20 years.
If the BFI is ‘anti-racist’, why are they hiding their champions ? Do they even exist? Did Hunt mislead Parliament and the media to deflect further scrutiny of racism?
2. No Black Governors
BFI recently announced the appointment of 6 new governors recruited by Jay Hunt HERE. Not one of them is African/Caribbean. 26 years after Stephen Lawrence, 6 years after George Floyd and 2 years after the most successful African/Caribbean film series the BFI had ever seen was destroyed at BFI by the BFI, there is no African/Caribbean representation at all amongst the 15 BFI governors. Are taxpayers expected to believe that in the whole of the UK in 2026 not one Black person was qualified to be a Governor? This a national scandal by itself.
3. The Highlander rule (1986, Director Russell Mulcahy) ‘There can only be one’
The BFI executive team is 88 % white. There is only one Black person on it, who was appointed by CEO Ben Roberts in 2021 as a direct result of George Floyd, 2020. Prior to that there were no Black people at all despite two decades of the Race Relations Act (2000) which was brought in due to the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993. Common sense and policy states that senior management should reflect the community they serve. This is what BFI CEO Ben Roberts said in June 2020 just after George Floyd’s killing.
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…
We will be transparent in how we report who we employ, recognising that a global ‘diversity’ average can hide a lack of senior POC. HERE
Ben Roberts and Jay Hunt are in breach of their own commitments. African Odysseys contributed £6 million of consultancy/labour to the BFI not including two decades of monthly box office. Why would a charity throw away such money? Where is the accountability for what BFI told the public they would do?
4. Disrespect and disregard of Black Professors
Given the recent Professor Jason Arday situation, it is extremely disturbing that dozens of Black professors who have signed the petition including; Sir Professor Patrick Vernon, Dame Professor Elizabeth Anionwu,Professor Paul Gilroy,Professor Hakim Adi, Professor Adoah Anjoh MBE, Professor Deidre Osborne, Professor Matt Smith, Professor David Dabydeen, Professor June Bam Hutchinson, Professor Gus John and more, are being ignored by the BFI.
BFI CEO Ben Roberts said this in 2020:
We will share resources and experiences openly and lift up and engage with the people and organisations who are already doing the work. I welcome industry colleagues and supporters to get in touch with us and take action. HERE
Those pioneers in the fight for racial equality, who have already ‘done the work’ have got in touch but the BFI has not ‘lifted up’, ‘engaged with’ or taken any ‘action’. This is not to mention the 19,000 people who have signed the petition. Roberts words are clearly performative.
5. BFI sends 6 global majority people to Canada but refuses to meet any Londoners representing 19k global majority people and 20 years of audience development
BFI announced this initiative backed by Director of Inclusion Melanie Hoyes HERE .Hoyes has said nothing about the exclusion of the African Odysseys Steering Committee even though she was at the meeting in July 2024 with Stuart Brown when a Race Equality Impact Assessment was agreed but then binned by Brown. This behaviour makes no sense. No Black governors represent BFI in England but they can find Black people to represent the BFI in Canada? Last year BFI sent Black directors/producers to Barbados but it made no difference to how African Odysseys is treated in England. A performative distraction.
6. Best ‘Anti-racist’ training in the country
In the 2025 Deadline article BFI Chair Jay Hunt HERE said their ‘anti-racist’ training was ‘second to none’ as delivered by ‘What If’ consultancy. If it was so good, why does the BFI have all these problems?
After 2 years the BFI cannot supply any evidence that a Race Equality Impact Assessment was considered and rejected by ‘What If’. BFI did do a REIA for the Faisal Querishi case which did not affect 19,000 people and a 20-year-old Black history film series with tens of thousands of audience. Why such discrepancy?
Vilma Nikolaidu the Director of People and Culture @BFI states that an anonymous ‘consultant’ said it was ‘ok not to do a REIA’ but can provide no proof. Meanwhile, Professor Gus John’ who actually wrote equality laws during the Tony Blair government and trained large institutions on their application, is totally ignored. Worse still, the all white team of Ben Roberts, Jason Wood Executive Director of Public Programmes & Audiences, and Stuart Brown refused to meet with him to discuss African Odysseys HERE three times and refused to meet the group of loyal volunteers who had poured 20 years worth of voluntary labour into developing global majority audiences at BFI.
7. Sight and Sound two decades of exclusion
Mike Williams editor of Sight and Sound continues his two year silence on why the BFIs own magazine never did a feature on African Odysseys success despite repeated 450 seat sellouts. This, despite official letters in 2020, 2023 and 2024 from the African Odysseys Steering Committee to Ben Roberts demanding equal treatment from Sight and Sound.
This is crucial to understand the depth of racism at BFI. Sight and Sound’s constant exclusion of African Odysseys events meant that thousands of Black directors, producers, actors and films never got the publicity they deserved even when films like Besouro, Marcus Garvey, Toussaint, Walter Rodney etc sold out the 450 seater at Southbank at 2pm on a Saturday, a ‘dead’ time for cinemas.
Sight and Sound, by refusing to preview and review African Odysseys global majority talent robbed artists of the exposure they deserved and reduced further bookings. Even in October 2024 when Ben Roberts apologised to Faisal Querishi, Sight and Sound issue did not mention Black History month once or review any African films.
Williams has a history on race issues. When Williams was editor at NME in 2017, Stormzy called them ‘Fxxing paigons’ etc HERE due to Williams’ use of Stormys’ image on the NME front cover in relation to a mental health story, without his permission.
Sight and Sound refused to answer this question:
'What is the racial composition of BFI’s Sight & Sound staff by rank and length of service?’‘
Where is the transparency that Ben Roberts promised for such a simple question?
8. Why does BFI Flare have 12 times the resources allocated to African Odysseys ?
After two years, the BFI refuses to explain how BFI Flare, which happens once a year, has 12 staff while African Odysseys which happened once a month only had one. It was that member of staff, the only person with 18 years of African diaspora film knowledge and the co-founder of African Odysseys, that BFI chose to get rid of as well as delete his post ensuring that African Odysseys could not continue to its 20th anniversary celebration at BFI despite their written 2023 agreement. HERE
It is worth noting that co-founder David Somerest only spent 50% of his time on the Odysseys programme, the other half was spent on Chinese cinema, senior citizens, Asian cinema and refugee programmes. These already marginalised groups were all severely damaged by the decision without consultation and against the Public Sector Equality Duty. This is pure, self- evident racism.
9. Blatant double standards on Flare compared to African Odysseys
BFI Flare enjoyed a whole week takeover of the BFI in 2026 to celebrate their 40th anniversary. Meanwhile, African Odysseys was prevented from having their 20th anniversary at BFI even though there was a written 2023 agreement to do so from Stuart Brown. No Black group that works with the BFI can trust what the BFI says even when it is writing. The BFI cannot ‘Film festival/Black film premiere’ its way out of decades of racial discrimination.
Perhaps Ben Roberts has the answer as to why the BFI has all these race problems. In June 2020, just after George Floyd he wrote
..the status quo in the film community is undoubtedly still a system that privileges whiteness, and it has persisted for too long..
Roberts is right and in the 6 years since he wrote those words its got worse, under his leadership. Corrective action is urgently needed not empty words.
Next petition update will detail a 'Town Hall' session on the BFI where grassroots community groups and academics publicly assess the behaviour of the British Film Institute compared to their written statements/policies. For 6 coming African Odysseys films see HERE