Over 17 years ago African Odysseys was co-founded by the BFI and our community partners to celebrate and platform Pan-African cinema. The influence of African Odysseys can be felt across all BFI programme from showcasing Black British stories to promoting new African and African diaspora voices.

We would like to reassure our African Odysseys audience that despite some internal staff reorganisation, we do not want this programme to end. However, African Odysseys is programmed in partnership with an external Steering Group, and we have not yet been able to agree on a shared approach to managing it.

In the meantime, our in-house programmers and external advisors and partners continue to ensure that Black British, African, and African diaspora stories are platformed and celebrated across the BFI’s public programme. We are very grateful to the dedication of the Steering Group who have partnered with us to deliver the programme over the years. We will reserve a space in our monthly programme for African Odysseys to return.

Thank you for your continued support. It means a great deal to us.

Ben Roberts
Chief Executive
BFI