Inclusion in the Director’s Chair: Gender, race, and age of directors across 1,200 top films from 2007 to 2018

Yearly, the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative examines diversity and inclusion in the director’s chair across the 100 top-grossing motion pictures. For 2018, our annual analysis focuses on gender, race, and age of 1,335 helmers spanning 1,200 of the highest earning fictional films released domestically between 2007 and 2018. Clearly, this is the most intersectional assessment of … More

Gender and Race/Ethnicity of Film Reviewers Across 300 Top Films from 2015-2017

In June of 2018, we released our inaugural report on diversity in the film criticism space using reviews featured on Rotten Tomatoes across the 100 top films of 2017. Now, we are partnering with TIME’S UP Entertainment and extending that investigation in three important ways. First, the diversity of critics associated with the 100 top … More

Seeing the Funny Side

Project overview Part of BFI Comedy Genius, Sign for All collaborated with Women Over Fifty Film Festival (WOFFF) and The New Black Film Collective (TNBFC) in screening silent short films for the deaf community in Birmingham’s MAC and London’s Stratford East Picturehouse. The screenings also included stand up Deaf Comedian Rinkoo Barpaga. Why the project … More

Opening Our Doors was a day of workshops and talks developed by Film Hub Wales, aimed at highlighting inclusivity and equality in film exhibition. The event was aimed at exhibitors seeking to capacity build within their own cinemas. It was a tailor-made day of workshops, case studies and discussions by experts and FAN members for FAN members aimed to boost exhibitor confidence in being more inclusive.

Working closely with Film Hub Scotland, and forming part of their Amplify programme, an Opening our Doors day was delivered in January 2019 to support members of the network in understanding and engaging with diverse communities including low-income, BAME, and disabled groups. The event also referenced programming, and marketing for diverse audiences.

The BFI diversity standards task exhibitors with supporting better inclusion in cinema, such as inclusion for those with additional needs and for those who might feel culturally excluded.

Many of us know about the barriers that are in front of us when we talk about building diverse audiences. We don’t really get the time to consider and talk about our options, our fears, talk to our peers and come up with solutions to improve what we offer.

Diversity and Inclusion: an overview - Myriam Mouflih

Race and unconcious bias in film - Umulkhayr Mohamed

How to welcome lower income communities into your cinema - Helen Wright

Technology to the endangered language rescue?

Looking at what’s working to help endangered and threatened languages, we address technology: what kind of technologies are being used, which can empower people to take action, and which are having an impact on the numbers of speakers.

2680 out of 7000 languages spoken in the world are endangered. Only a few hundred languages have genuinely been given a place in education systems and the public domain, and less than a hundred are used in the digital world.

International Mother Language Day has been observed every year since February 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. In 2019, the United Nations declared The Year of Indigenous Languages (IY2019) to raise awareness and recognise the important cultural value that they bring to our world.

The UN has proclaimed 2022-2032 the International Decade of Indigenous Languages to draw global attention on the critical situation of many indigenous languages.

This is a great time to focus on planning screenings of films not in the English language, learn about the challenges Indigenous languages face by connecting people through language and culture through film.