Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to be headed by Krishnendu Majumdar
As anti-racist protests rock the world, the first ‘man of colour’ and the youngest in the history of BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts), a Bengali award-winning TV producer has been appointed to hold a prestigious chair in BAFTA’s 73-year history.
Majumdar, who has been deputy chair for one year, is due to remain as chair for the next three years — the newly extended term for all future BAFTA chairs. He succeeds Pippa Harris, who will now continue as deputy chair. An Emmy-winning and BAFTA-nominated TV producer and director, Majumdar has been closely involved with BAFTA for 14 years, having been the chair of the Learning and New Talent Committee (2006-10), the chair of the Television Committee (2015-19) and a member of the board of trustees for nine years.
He has actively supported BAFTA’s year-round program of learning and new talent initiatives, including BAFTA Breakthrough and BAFTA Elevate. Majumdar is also chairing BAFTA’s Awards Review, convened in response to the lack of diversity in this year’s Film Awards nominations.
‘It is a tremendous honor to be elected chair of BAFTA, and I’m lucky to be following Pippa Harris’ outstanding tenure,, and I want to pay tribute to the resilient and dynamic leadership that Pippa has shown,’ said Majumdar in an interview to the press. ‘This year has been a difficult and turbulent time for many in our industry. Working with Pippa, BAFTA’s talented and committed staff and membership, I want BAFTA to be at the heart of rebuilding the industry post-COVID.’
He added: ‘It is vital to ensure that we support people of all backgrounds, races and genders. Diversity and inclusion are crucial for the lifeblood of BAFTA, and we will continue to be a leader for real change across our industry.’
Majumdar co-founded the independent production company Me + You Productions in 2012, alongside Richard Yee. Since then, he has produced the critically acclaimed Dominic Savage drama series ‘I Am,’ for Channel 4 and the International Emmy-winning comedy Hoff the Record. He has been executive producerof two seasons of the comedy drama Sick of It, as well as documentary series The Moaning of Life. Majumdar was also a showrunner on the BAFTA-nominated global hit franchise An Idiot Abroad.
Majumdar entered the industry by being the first and only person ever to be trained on both the prestigious ITN News Trainee and BBC Production Trainee schemes, working across both ITN and the BBC at the outset of his career.
