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In addition to not answering simple questions, the BFI is making public statements that are not true. The screenshot above was taken from the BFI website on 23rd February. The highlighted words say one thing but the truth is:
· There are no African Odysseys on the BFI schedule for the rest of the year purely because of the cuts/redundancies the BFI has made due to ‘restructuring’.
· The BFI has shown no ‘commitment’ to African Odysseys as they have withdrawn 100% of the resources that made it possible since 2007.
· The BFI have repeatedly ignored the advice of the expert Steering Committee that created and ran the programme as well as the requests of 16,000 people.
· Since July 2007 the BFI could not even ‘commit’ to a meeting with the African Odysseys Steering Committee. The meeting agreed for the 17th of January was cancelled by the BFI two hours before it was due to go ahead without any consultation. Details HERE
· The BFI could not ‘commit’ to answering 8 questions.
· There is absolutely no discussion about a 20-year anniversary. The BFI were explicitly told in June 2024 there was no possibility of such without David Somerset, the co-founder being in post. However, CEO Ben Roberts CEO confirmed on 31st January that the BFI would not reverse the redundancy and Somerset the co-founder of African Odysseys, the only person at the BFI with 17 years of African diaspora film knowledge, no longer works there due to the 'restructure'.
This is the third time that the BFI has published information on its website about African Odysseys that is not true.
The first time was on 29th October as challenged on 6th November HERE
The second time was pointed out in our petition update of Christmas Eve 2024 as can be seen HERE
Given that the BFI has 825,000 followers on twitter and a budget of 127 million pounds, this deliberate disinformation is a form of bullying toward a small volunteer group that for 17 years has brought a diverse audience to the BFI and sold out their cinemas
Here is an extract from the six-page letter of complaint sent by the Committee to BFI Chair of Governors Jay Hunt and senior BFI managers on 21st January 2025
We have argued from the outset that the cuts/redundancies would lead to the end of African Odysseys at the BFI and indeed AO does not appear in the present brochure. The 13 events we had lined up since October 2024 cannot go ahead while the BFI tells the public the exact opposite. The BFI appears to be totally unconcerned about the impact of such mismanagement on loyal supporters both of AO and of the BFI. Not only is it giving people false information, while betraying a total lack of transparency, it also appears to want to send a message that 'how we handle our affairs is our business and we have neither desire nor need to listen to anyone, irrespective of your 15,000 strong petition'…
...this debacle is a textbook case study of institutional racism, and your Board of Governors should be made aware of that. Given the support AO has received from 15,000 concerned individuals, a good many of whom consider themselves Friends of the BFI and are eager to see it do the right thing, AO owes it to them to represent this as an egregious case of institutional racism, especially given the history of the BFI and race.
End of extract
On the 19 February the Steering Committee sent an eight-page letter to CEO Ben Roberts and executive management member Jason Wood after they requested a meeting having twice refused to answer those 8 questions in order for a meeting to take place. Here is an extract:
(Jay) Hunt said the UK is “staring down the barrel of a crisis hitting cinemas.” She pointed out that 45% of British cinemas are projected to be loss-leading by the end of this year and quoted the local Film Distributor’s Association describing the situation as “parlous" HERE
So how does it make sense to put the person who has been selling out BFI cinemas with majority Black audiences for 17 years out of the BFI? By the way, the audience you refer to is us, the Steering Committee. We had 13 other sells out, audience-grabbing events lined up for 2025, but your actions have frustrated them. The audience are also the 16,000 people who’ve signed the petition so far. You are not listening to that audience.
Your actions have alienated the Steering Committee et al and gone against the wishes of 16,000 people. This is a spectacular own goal and a setback which will affect the audience and audience development negatively for years. Some people have already rescinded their membership, others will no longer attend the BFI. Many more have yet to find out what has gone on and will be furious when they do. Please indicate your related remedies to be discussed
For five years and even more so in the last seven months, we’ve bent over backwards to accommodate you, make you money and solve your systemic racism problems. In return, we’ve been ignored, fobbed off, patronised, disrespected and had massive amounts of our precious time wasted. The BFI behaviour on the 16th/17th January 2025 alone is a national scandal for a registered charity. We put it to you that a group of White volunteers from Accenture/Campari/American Airlines would never have been treated in this manner even if they were not worth £1.5 million.
We’ve previously raised the issue about BFI majority white executive team and experiencing their tone deafness to issues requiring change. Here’s a comparison which may help explain our perspective. To equal the devastation you’ve wrought on the most successful Black film programme the BFI ever had would be like making all 8 staff who work on Flare redundant at the same time and simultaneously deleting all of their posts, after refusing to do an equality assessment as requested by leading members of the LGBTQ community and ignoring a 16,000 strong petition. After doing that you would then have to write to Peter Packer (the originator of what became Flare) and say you’d like to meet to ‘move forward’ with Flare because you care about that audience. Would the words ‘I think we’re actually doing a really good job?’ be appropriate in that situation?
There are no African Odysseys titles scheduled in the calendar of BFI events for the rest of the year due to your actions while Flare will host at least 50 films in March alone. Once again, to quote James Baldwin ‘I can’t believe what you say because I see what you do’. Our last two emails were very clear about the criteria for a meeting and yet again you twice continue to ignore our very reasonable questions while alleging you are ‘transparent’ and want to ‘work with us’.
At this late stage the community needs concrete, immediate action to combat the plethora of poor decisions, excessive delay and appalling treatment detailed in this petition and its various updates.
End of extract
If the BFI are serious about, and committed to, anti-racism, addressing systemic discrimination and resolving the many serious issues African Odysseys has raised since June 2020, the very least they can do is answer the eight questions above. The tax-paying public, who fund the BFI deserve to know as do the 16,000 people who took the time to sign the petition to Save 17 Years of Black Film History at the British Film Institute.
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