EXCLUSIVE: British Film Institute CEO Ben Roberts has apologized after an independent investigation concluded that the movie body “badly” mishandled a racial discrimination complaint.
In a report seen by Deadline, Verita, the complaints reviewer for National Lottery-funded organizations, concluded that the BFI‘s response to concerns raised by producer and researcher Faisal A Qureshi fell “well short” of expected standards. The BFI has accepted the conclusions and said it “cares deeply” about being an anti-racist organization.
Deadline first revealed Qureshi’s complaint in an in-depth story in March last year. Verita launched its investigation following the publication of Deadline’s piece and has now finalized its findings in a 46-page review (published in full below). The report coincides with the London Film Festival, with the BFI hosting an opening gala on Wednesday, premiering Steve McQueen’s Blitz.
Qureshi, a 30-year industry veteran with an associate producer credit on BAFTA-winning movie Four Lions, complained about how he was treated at a March 2019 funding meeting with the BFI Network, a third-party BFI delivery organization. Qureshi alleged that a BFI Network representative accused him of being “very forthright” about race on social media and made clear the organization had no interest in supporting him.
Qureshi said his complaint about the meeting was compounded by the BFI’s response, which he felt was dismissive of his concerns. For example, Verita’s report disclosed an internal email from a BFI Network employee in which Qureshi’s discrimination claims were dismissed as “crazy.”
“Although not from a BFI employee, this sentiment … is characteristic of much of the correspondence between the complainant and the BFI,” Verita concluded. “It is clear that this complaint was badly handled. Two and a half years after the formal complaint was made, it remains the case that the BFI has not responded to the specifics of the complaint in a substantive fashion.”
Verita concluded that the BFI did not respond to Qureshi concerns promptly, only responded when chased, made “little effort” to collect evidence about the allegations, and did not reach conclusions about the complaint. Verita said it appeared that the BFI “assumed that the allegation was wrong,” though investigators accepted there was “a lot of doubt” and “poor” communication internally about how to handle the complaint.
Verita continued: “It is understandable that the complainant feels deeply dissatisfied by many of the actions taken by the BFI in response to his complaint. That the cause was the BFI’s poor processes, rather than malice towards the complainant, can provide only marginal comfort.”
Qureshi has argued that the BFI’s actions are evidence of systemic racism, an allegation the BFI refuted. Verita declined to reach a conclusion on this matter, saying it did not have “sufficient evidence” to comment on the motivation of BFI employees. Verita added, however, that it was “difficult to believe” that the BFI would have managed a complaint about “another kind of impropriety” in the same way as Qureshi’s racism allegation was handled.
Verita did not find evidence to support Qureshi’s claims that he experienced racial discrimination during the March 2019 meeting, though it made clear it was not questioning his experience and recollections. The person accused of wrongdoing was not interviewed by Verita, while another witness told the BFI they did not recall the specifics of the meeting.
Faisal A Qureshi
Roberts has written to Qureshi to apologize. “The report clearly indicates that our handling of your complaint fell well short of both your expectations and ours, and we let you down,” he said. “I would like to reassure you that we take the findings of the Verita report seriously and have already made several improvements to our complaints procedure.”
He set out updates the BFI had made, including improving communication with complainants by offering meetings and a phone call at the start of the process. The BFI has increased training for complaints handlers, clarified different types of complaints, and now signposts mediation in complex cases.
Qureshi said he remained uncertain about whether to accept Roberts’ apology or his offer of a meeting. “It’s kind of like the unrepentant school bully has been compelled to give an apology,” he said. BFI executives have apologized verbally to Qureshi in the years since he made his complaint, but the film body did not engage with his requests for a formal written apology.
“I feel like a test pilot or a lab rat pushing the envelope of what can be achieved within the field of bureaucratic apathy,” Qureshi said. With his tongue in his cheek, he added: “It’s really nice that I’ve gone through this entire process, which has lasted something like five years, just so the BFI can learn lessons from it.”
Verita was able to reach the conclusions it did partly because Qureshi was forensic in making Freedom of Information Act and subject access requests to the BFI, through which he obtained evidence including the email that dismissed his complaint as “crazy.” Qureshi said: “The investigation doesn’t look into systemic racism within the BFI, but the stench is there from how I was treated.”
Qureshi has further concerns about the way he was characterized in an email from Roberts to the BFI’s governors, who include former Netflix film chief Scott Stuber and Apple TV+ Europe boss Jay Hunt. Informing the board about Deadline’s article last year, Roberts wrote that Qureshi had a “history of complaints” about the BFI.
Qureshi disputes this, arguing that his only previous formal complaint was made to the UK Film Council 20 years ago. He said Roberts’ email unfairly painted him as “a rejected, bitter applicant” to some of the top creative leaders in the industry and damaged his reputation. Deadline understands that Roberts stands by his characterization.
In a statement, the BFI said: “We have carefully considered Verita’s report, which concluded that there was not sufficient evidence to find that the complainant was discriminated against on racial grounds. We accept that our handling of the complaint was not good enough. We have apologised to Faisal and invited him to meet with BFI chief executive Ben Roberts.
“We’ve overhauled our complaints process and handling of complex cases. We care deeply about being an anti-racist organisation. We’ve introduced mandatory inclusion training for all BFI employees, and over 100 senior leaders have participated in an intensive inclusivity programme. We are focused on equality of access to our funds. In 2023/24, 38% of feature development funding and 28% of production funding supported Black and global majority talent.”
