BFI accused of taking limited steps to address systemic racism

Two prominent film-makers of colour have accused the British Film Institute of failing to meaningfully address systemic racism.

Faisal Qureshi, who produced the hit film Four Lions, said although the BFI had admitted to racism, it had taken limited steps to address it, such as through an independent investigation into the organisation’s culture.

Qureshi added that instead of actual solutions such as a ringfenced budget for creatives of colour, the BFI had spent a lot of money on anti-racism training of what he said was of questionable effectiveness.

His comments, which were first reported by the industry website Deadline, follow a series of conversations and freedom of information responses from the BFI that he said built a picture of an organisation failing to support diverse talent.

“I realised when I went on this journey and spoke to other film-makers was that it wasn’t just about me, there have been other people who’ve also been impacted by this culture of discrimination, and they were mostly creatives of colour,” he said.

Instead of ringfencing budgets for Black, Asian and minority ethnic film-makers, the BFI said 35% of productions funded by the BFI involve Bame creators, exceeding a 30% target.

Ben Roberts, its chief executive since 2020, said that as a public funder the BFI was “rightly held to the highest standards” and had a 10-year strategy to improve representation.

He said: “Last year, following commitments we made in 2020, we started developing an anti-racism practice at the BFI, and we’re continuing this work throughout 2023. It’s been challenging and thought-provoking work, but it is building our awareness of the inequalities and barriers in our processes.”

He said this had resulted in progress in the diversity of films supported by the BFI film fund in recent years, and that it was working to make the complaints system “more user-friendly”, to ensure film-makers who do not receive funding were not discouraged from reapplying.

Qureshi said he had been deterred from applying for funding in his conversations with the BFI, including one in which its head of inclusion acknowledged that film-makers of colour could have traumatic experiences, and another in which he was inaccurately told he was ineligible for funding.

The BFI has since apologised, but Qureshi felt the tone was “the kind of apology you’d expect from Just Eat or McDonald’s when you’ve got your order wrong”.

Jonte Richardson, an award-winning Black film-maker, said he felt that there should be tougher consequences for organisations that admitted to racism, and that only change at the top would address the underlying issues.

“The problem with any institution that is systematically racist is there’s no quick or easy fix,” he said, while acknowledging there had been some improvements over the past year.

He said the UK should seek to emulate the thriving Black Hollywood scene in the US by championing local talent of colour more strongly, rather than just promoting the occasional hit such as the romantic comedy Rye Lane. “There isn’t a Black film sector over here and part of the remit of the BFI was to support that.”

Qureshi felt the BFI’s culture was indicative of a broader lack of commitment to diversity in the film industry, which he feels relies on platitudes such as “mistakes were made, but lessons have been learnt” or empty declarations about inclusion.

“The creative sector generally has escaped the same kind of reckoning that the police have had,” he said, referring to the Macpherson and Casey reviews.