Who is June Givanni? Recipient of BAFTA’s Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award

The award was originally introduced in 1978 and has been given to production companies, film series, actors, and other creatives.

Past winners include the Harry Potter film series, late acting icon John Hurt, director Ken Loach, BBC Films, the National Film and Television School, and producer and executive Tessa Ross.

This year's recipient, June Givanni, will likely be a less familiar name to most viewers - so read on for everything you need to know about her and her stellar contribution to British cinema.

Who is June Givanni?

Givanni is a Guyanese-born film curator and the founder of the June Givanni Pan African Cinema Archive in London – a personal collection documenting Pan-African cinema over 40 years.

As described by BAFTA, the archive – which is run by volunteers – is "dedicated to preserving the history of Pan-African and Black British cinema and culture", and includes more than 10,000 rare and unique artefacts that document the development of filmmaking across Africa and the African diaspora, including in Britain.

Givanni's career in film began as the coordinator of Third Eye London’s first Festival of Third World Cinema, and she has gone on to work as a film curator on five continents.

Major accomplishments from her career include setting up and running the African Caribbean Film Unit at the BFI, programming Planet Africa at The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) over four years, and publishing several books including Symbolic Narratives/African Cinema: Audiences, Theory and the Moving Image and Remote Control: Dilemmas of Black Intervention in British Film and TV.

Speaking after she was announced as the recipient, Givanni said: "I was shocked and am honoured to receive such recognition from BAFTA for work that I have been privileged to be able to do with some of the most inspired and inspiring people in the world of cinema generally and Pan-African cinema and culture in particular; especially with the energies of the younger generation of thinkers, curators and artists who bring dynamic energies to working with, and discovering, the archives of the moving image from a pre-digital age."

Meanwhile, BAFTA's CEO Jane Millichip called Givanni "a pioneering force in the preservation, study and celebration of African and African Diaspora cinema and Black British cultural heritage" and called the archive "one of the world’s most important time capsules of the ideas, stories and creative output of an essential part of British and global film history".

She continued: "We are so pleased to be able to shine a light on June’s work at the EE BAFTA Film Awards [this] month, including her extraordinary archive and the filmmakers and stories within it."

The BAFTA Film Awards will air on BBC One and iPlayer on Sunday 18th February. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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