University News Last updated 05 March
The British Film Institute (BFI) has been urged to abandon catch-all ethnicity terms like B.A.M.E, ring-fence funding for marginalised communities, and publish more detailed information about its grant awards to improve transparency and accountability following research commissioned by the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity (LHC).
Each year, the BFI distributes millions of pounds of financial support to hundreds of UK applicants via its National Lottery Filmmaking Fund.
Describing its role as a champion of “new talent and unfamiliar stories from unfamiliar voices”, the fund is a crucial route into the industry.
It has helped support a number of hugely successful productions in the last year, including How To Have Sex, Scrapper, The Old Oak, Blue Jean, Rye Lane and the Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.
But the LHC study, supported by valuable funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, concludes that more work needs to be done to ensure that funding is distributed fairly.
“The position that the BFI holds in equality, diversity and inclusion cannot be underestimated,” said Chi Thai, one of the study’s co-authors.
“It is uniquely placed in the industry, and it is clear its actions set the tone, priorities and pace that much of the industry follows.
“How it invests in talent shapes the talent pipeline that flows out towards the wider industry, and its failures and shortcomings have massive repercussions.”
Josh Cockcroft and Delphine Lievens are also co-authors of the study.
“The BFI has an enormous role in shaping the diversity of the industry and has a responsibility to act equitably and transparently,” said Cockcroft.
“Our study demonstrates that the BFI has the ability to do this, and to truly live up to its ambitions, must make brave and bold decisions.”
Lievens added: “Whilst we have seen some improvement in recent years from the BFI in terms of the types of projects it is funding, there is still important work yet to be done.
“In particular, we look to the BFI to lead the way in developing a more nuanced and intersectional approach to working with different marginalised groups.”
Analysing the grant award process of the BFI Film Fund, LHC researchers made a number of recommendations, including calling for urgent large-scale intervention to create transformative inclusion in the industry for people with disability.
Examining data from April 2019 to March 2020, researchers said their analysis exposed a limited perception of racial diversity by the BFI and urged it not to homogenise ethnicity by using terms like B.A.M.E, a catch-all used to describe people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.
The study also determined that the BFI is already significantly correcting decades of marginalisation, reinforced by the appointment of Mia Bays, a long-term campaigner on gender equality in film, as Director of the BFI National Lottery Filmmaking Fund.
In the period studied, around two-thirds of BFI awards went to female-identifying filmmakers, clearly signalling the BFI’s commitment to this aspect of diversity.
Last year, the BFI has launched its Screen Culture 2033 strategy, which, in line with its strategies since taking over the role of the UK Film Commission in 2011, sets out how the charitable organisation will build a diverse UK screen culture that benefits all of society.
The full LHC report can be viewed here.