June Givanni

In the early 1980s she was involved in bringing Third Eye London’s first Festival of Third World Cinema, to London and she worked as a film programmer at the Greater London Council’s Ethnic Minorities Unit, at a key development stage for Black British Independent cinema, and Black British art and culture generally.

June ran the African Caribbean Film Unit and edited the quarterly Black Film Bulletin; and the book Symbolic Narratives: Africa Cinema at the British Film Institute. She also programmed Planet Africa at The Toronto International Film Festival over 4 years. She has worked as a film curator with festivals on 5 continents – including India – and has been involved in key moments in the development of Pan African cinema on these continents, and the development of the links between them.

June has worked closely with many of the key filmmakers, critics and theorists involved with ‘Black British Cinema’; ‘African Cinema; Third Cinema’; ‘Caribbean Cinema’; Black Cinema from Europe; and African American Independent Cinema.