03/03/2003 - BFI Chair, Anthony Minghella salutes the arrival of Amanda Nevill, currently head of the NMPFT

The British Film Institute (BFI) has a new director. The appointment of Amanda Nevill follows the departure of her predecessor, John Teckman, and the temporary placement, during the interim period, of Adrian Wootton (the executive director of the BFI’s London Film Festival).
Nevill, who is currently head of the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television (NMPFT) in Bradford, will take up her new position in June. “The Board of the BFI is absolutely delighted that Amanda will be bringing her passion and vision to the BFI,” said the Institute’s new chairman, filmmaker Anthony Minghella. “Her distinguished achievements at the NMPFT speak volumes for her energy and commitment to making public institutions accessible, popular and relevant-skills which absolutely coincide with out determination to identify the BFI as a reservoir of moving image culture available to everybody in the United Kingdom.”
In her nine years at the NMPFT, Nevill led the £16m (Euros24m) redevelopment of the Museum and succeeded in delivering a regional and national programme to promote film and TV culture. Her appointment comes at a crucial time in the BFI’s history as it is undergoing serious financial strain due to overspending by £1m (Euros1.5m) of its annual £14.5 (Euros21.75m) grant from the Film Council. The BFI is also undergoing a much criticised ‘rationalisation’ of its Exhibition Programme Unit, which works in collaboration with 26-plus regional independent cinemas across the UK to make cultural art-house films (ie non-mainstream US films) available to the widest possible audience in the UK.