By Outgoing BFI Chairman Greg Dyke’s contribution to TV and Film celebrated with a BFI Fellowship award. Dyke will step down from his role on Feb 23…
The BFI’s outgoing Chairman Greg Dyke has picked up its highest honour – the BFI Fellowship – for his outstanding contribution to television and film. The award came as a surprise to Dyke who was presented with it at a BFI Southbank screening of Bob Fosse’s Cabaret. Dyke, the former Director General of the BBC, has been Chairman of the BFI for 8 years. His illustrious career has spanned over 50 years and encompasses journalism, broadcasting, TV production, film and sport.
Dyke said, “Thank you to my friends at the BFI, we’ve had a great eight years together. We’ve faced lots of challenges but we’re better now than ever and doing more than ever. It’s a brilliant organisation and I’m overwhelmed by this BFI Fellowship award.”
Dyke took over as BFI Chairman in 2008 and successfully steered it through one of the biggest evolutions in its history when the responsibilities of the UK Film Council were given to the BFI and subsequently launched its 5-year plan “Film Forever” in 2012. Greg’s ambition was also to make the BFI National Archive available to as wide an audience as possible – achieved through the launch of the BFI’s VOD platform BFI Player in 2013.
The BFI’s Britain on Film project, launched last year on BFI Player, has meant 5.6 million people UK-wide have now viewed 1000’s of newly digitised films from the BFI National Archive. Dyke has also driven the BFI’s educational and diversity agendas, believing passionately that film and the moving image are powerful educational tools that should be part of the curriculum. He also launched the hugely successful BFI Film Academy in 2012, giving young people of all backgrounds, no matter where they live, the opportunity for a career in film. By the end of 2016 it will have supported over 3,000 15-19 year olds. The BFI also launched its Diversity Standards for all projects in receipt of Lottery funding in October 2015. Dyke will leave his post at the BFI on 23rd February when he hands over the BFI Chairmanship to Josh Berger, President and Managing Director of, Warner Bros. Entertainment UK, Ireland and Spain.
Lord David Puttnam said, “Greg Dyke is one of those unique people who, seemingly without effort, fills the gap between the private and public sectors; contributing his own special combination of forthright charm, humour, and steely determination to getting the right thing done, in the right way, and for the right reasons. In a world with too many challenges and too few of the people needed to meet them, Greg remains a one-of-a-kind national treasure.”
Amanda Nevill, BFI CEO said, “Greg has had a profound influence upon modern television and popular culture and he has made a massive impact on so many other sectors from film to journalism and sport. I have huge admiration for Greg’s energy, incisiveness and his ability to cut through to the core of every issue. Greg has led the BFI through one of the biggest changes in its history. His ambition and passion for the BFI National Archive, improving diversity, educational opportunities and our digital capabilities together with his determination to make the BFI UK-wide has been transformative. There’s a good reason that Greg is one of the most popular men in the business and I feel very lucky to have had eight years of working with him. I am extremely grateful for his enormous contribution to the BFI and our industry and wish him all the very best for the future.”
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