The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has appointed Krishnendu Majumdar as its new Chair on 1 June 2020. In doing so, Krishnendu becomes the first person of colour to be appointed to the role in BAFTA’s 73-year history and the youngest chair in 35 years. He has been Deputy Chair for one year and his tenure as Chair will run for the next three years - the newly extended term for all future BAFTA chairs.
Krishnendu is an EMMY-winning and BAFTA-nominated television producer and director. He has been closely involved with BAFTA for 14 years, having been the Chair of the Learning and New Talent Committee (2006-2010), the Chair of the Television Committee (2015-2019) and a member of the Board of Trustees for nine years.
He has been chairing BAFTA’s Awards Review, convened in response to the lack of diversity in this year’s Film Awards nominations. He has been a long-time supporter of greater diversity on and off screen throughout his career and has also been on the Board of Directors UK and the PACT Council.
Speaking about his appointment, Krishnendu said, “It is a tremendous honour 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. 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. 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.”
He was born in South Wales to Bengali parents who arrived in the UK from India in the 1960s. His father was a GP who worked for the NHS for over 40 years.
Krishnendu 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.
