Givanni follows the likes of Andy Serkis, John Hurt and Ken Loach in receiving the award. <\/p>
Sunday night\u2019s BAFTA Film Awards<\/a> ceremony at London\u2019s Royal Festival Hall is shaping up to be a terrific event \u2013 honouring the finest films of the last year, from Oppenheimer<\/a> to Poor Things<\/a>, and celebrating the people who made them.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the ceremony will also see the first new recipient of the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award since Andy Serkis was given the honour in 2020.<\/p>\n In the past, the award has been handed out to everyone from beloved actors and directors such as John Hurt, Kenneth Branagh, Ken Loach and Ridley and Tony Scott to organisations such as BBC Films, Curzon and the National Film and Television School \u2013 while one year it was even awarded to the entire Harry Potter<\/a> film series.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s recipient, June Givanni<\/strong>, will likely be a less familiar name to most viewers \u2013 so read on for everything you need to know about her and her stellar contribution to British cinema.<\/p>\n Givanni is a Guyanese-born film curator and the founder of the June Givanni Pan African Cinema Archive in London<\/strong> \u2013 which is a personal collection documenting Pan-African cinema over 40 years.<\/p>\n As described by BAFTA, the archive \u2013 which is run by volunteers \u2013 is \u201cdedicated to preserving the history of Pan-African and Black British cinema and culture\u201d, and includes more than 10,000 rare and unique artifacts that document the development of filmmaking across Africa and the African diaspora, including in Britain.<\/p> Givanni\u2019s career in film began as the coordinator of Third Eye London\u2019s first Festival of Third World Cinema, and she has gone on to work as a film curator on five continents.<\/p>\n 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 a number of books including Symbolic Narratives\/African Cinema: Audiences, Theory and the Moving Image<\/span><\/a> and Remote Control: Dilemmas of Black Intervention in British Film and TV<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Speaking after she was announced as the recipient, Givanni said: \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, BAFTA\u2019s CEO Jane Millichip called Givanni \u201ca pioneering force in the preservation, study and celebration of African and African Diaspora cinema and Black British cultural heritage\u201d and called the archive \u201cone of the world\u2019s most important time capsules of the ideas, stories and creative output of an essential part of British and global film history\u201d.<\/p>\n She continued: \u201cWe are so pleased to be able to shine a light on June\u2019s work at the EE BAFTA Film Awards [this] month, including her extraordinary archive and the filmmakers and stories within it.\u201d<\/p>\nWho is June Givanni?<\/strong><\/h2>\n