Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Ryan Coogler & Margot Robbie among industry change-makers on BAFTA’s public programme

BAFTA unveils a packed public programme of events, masterclasses, workshops and festivals for audiences to explore over the next two months. The programme will bring together emerging and established talent from the film, games and television industries including Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Ryan Coogler, Lena Dunham, Kate Hudson, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Tony Kushner, Eímear Noone, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Ruben Östlund, Margot Robbie and many more, to share their creative processes and never-before-told career insights.  A variety of events will be held at BAFTA 195 Piccadilly and online for everyone from those working in the industry to those curious to learn more about the making of their favourite films, games and television shows.

Jane Millichip, CEO of BAFTA, said: “It is an honour to bring together at BAFTA’s headquarters at 195 Piccadilly some of the most visionary, thoughtful and provocative story-tellers, creatives and filmmakers working today to deliver on our mission to inspire current and future generations of talent. From children and career starters, to film fans and industry veterans this is a programme for everyone. We are especially thrilled to welcome Ryan Coogler to give BAFTA’s David Lean Lecture. Ryan is not only a ground-breaking force within the industry, he is also a BAFTA Student Film Awards alumnus, having been a finalist over 10 years ago, so it’s wonderful to welcome him back to BAFTA to share what he’s learnt along the way.”

Mariayah Kaderbhai, head of programmes at BAFTA, said: “The global shapeshifters spanning film, games and television on our public programme offers a deep sense of understanding of the world through their craft, imagination and bold ambition. Examining best practice and profiling under-represented talent and narratives has underpinned our curation. As part of this, we are delighted that the 2022 BAFTA David Lean Lecture will be given by Ryan Coogler, a filmmaker who in just over a decade has demonstrated that film is a powerful tool for advocacy and change. From Oakland to Wakanda, he pushes artistic boundaries and creates authentic, culturally embedded and totally entertaining cinematic experiences.”

The programme includes BAFTA’s annual Screenwriters’ Lecture Series, to its flagship David Lean Lecture, a unique platform for some of the world’s most established and celebrated filmmakers, to Guru Live, a festival for aspiring creatives. Tickets are available here.

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Highlights include:

GURU LIVE
Supported by EE, Nespresso Professional, Sara Putt Associates, Searchlight Recruitment and The Crown Estate
12-13 November (all day). Tickets £5. Concessions available.

Guru Live is BAFTA’s flagship festival for aspiring creatives. Now in its fifth year, the line-up spans topics including debut feature directing, setting up your own production company, to promoting short films, to soft industry skills, intellectual property rights and screenwriting. BAFTA-winning Under the Shadow director Babak Anvari; film director and CEO of DBK studios Koby Adom; BAFTA-nominated director Myriam Raja; producer Danielle Goff; film editor Rachel Durance, and the team behind the game Roll7, among many others, feature on the line-up.

MASTERCLASS: FOR THE LOVE OF…REALITY TV
21 November 19.00 – 20.30. Tickets £8. Concessions available.

Reality TV is booming, with its undeniable influence on culture and society and its powerful ability to reflect the world we live in. Hosted by Yinka Bokinni, this session will bring together Mike Spencer, Creative Director, Lifted Entertainment (Love Island), Lee Hardwicke, Senior Casting and Welfare Executive, Naked (Snowflake Mountain) and Zinia Scroggs, Series Producer, Glow Up to examine how the genre has evolved and delve into the balance required between constructing a series and the need for authenticity, as viewers crave more relatability.

A LIFE IN PICTURES FEATURING MARGOT ROBBIE
Supported by TCL
22 November, 19:30 – 21:00. Tickets £15. Concessions available.

The award-winning actor and producer Margot Robbie will explore her illustrious career in film and television. Two-time Oscar nominee Margot Robbie is perhaps best known for her roles in Wolf of Wall Street (2013), I, Tonya (2017), Suicide Squad (2016), Mary Queen of Scots (2018), Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood (2019), Bombshell (2019), Birds of Prey (2020) and Amsterdam (2022). She has also made waves as a producer through her production company LuckyChap Entertainment which produced Oscar-winning films Promising Young Woman (2020) and I, Tonya (2017), as well as TV series Dollface (2019-22) and Maid (2021), and is a powerful advocate for gender equality behind the camera. She can soon be seen in the starring role of Damien Chazelle’s Babylon and Barbie (scheduled for release in 2023), co-written by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach.

CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE’S FESTIVAL
Supported by BBC Studios, Cartoon Network, Moonbug Entertainment and Nickelodeon.
26-27 November, all-day. Tickets £5. Concessions available.

Families are invited to explore the nominations for the 2022 Children & Young People Awards and find out more about BAFTA’s outreach work and initiatives at BAFTA’s inaugural Children & Young People’s Festival. Featuring photo opportunities, exclusive partner content and giveaways, there will also be a series of Awards’ showcases in BAFTA’s Princess Anne Theatre with opportunities to meet nominees and participate in activities across BAFTA’s initiatives: Young Creators, Young Game Designers and Young Presenters.

MASTERCLASS WITH SANJAY LEELA BHANSALI
28 November, 19.00 – 20.30. Tickets £8. Concessions available.

Award-winning Indian filmmaker, director, screenwriter, and music composer Sanjay Leela Bhansali will share valuable insights into his three-decades-long career at this very special BAFTA Masterclass.  Sanjay’s films celebrate the Indian way of life and are culturally rooted. He is known for his striking sets and grand storytelling with a huge roster of credits including Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), Devdas (2002) Black (2005), Saawariya (2007), Ram Leela (2013), Bajirao Mastani (2015), Padmaavat (2018), to his most recent project Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022) that have transformed Indian cinema. This masterclass will offer audiences rare insights into the BAFTA-nominated and multi-hyphenate Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s extraordinary career.

SCREENWRITER’S LECTURE SERIES
Supported by the JJ Charitable Trust
2-4 December, all day. Tickets £10 (Offer: Book 3 Lectures for £25). Concessions available.

BAFTA Screenwriter’s Lecture Series will feature critically acclaimed writers Lena Dunham, Ruben Östlund, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Tony Kushner, among many other talented creatives across a weekend exploring screenwriting from adaptations to commissioning to BAFTA’s writing schemes.

From the satirical and subversive brilliance of Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness (2022), The Square (2017) and Force Majeure (2014), to Lena Dunham’s distinctive and recognisable output as a writer, director, actor and producer including her culturally influential portrayal of millennial experiences through the TV show Girls (2012-2017), as well as her recent coming-of-age historical comedy feature film Catherine Called Birdy (2022).

Hirokazu Kore-eda has moved audiences around the world with his stories about various configurations of families in films including Our Little Sister (2015), Like Father, Like Son (2013) and his Palme d’Or award-winning film Shoplifters (2018), while the legendary, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tony Kushner has established himself as one of the most acclaimed screenwriters of his generation with credits including Munich (2005), Lincoln (2012) and West Side Story (2021), as well as his latest film The Fablemans (2022). The weekend is not to be missed.

MASTERCLASS: INCLUSIVE STORYTELLING AND PRODUCTION
6 December, 19:30 – 20:30. Tickets £8. Concessions available.

This panel session will share practical tips and recommendations on how to make a production truly inclusive and accessible, with contributors from the TV series Ralph and Katie (2022) including the show’s producer Jules Hussey and Jess Mabel Jones, creative coach, as well as Jack Thorne, writer and Amit Sharma, director of the single drama Then Barbara Met Alan (2022). The session will delve into how Ralph and Katie – written by a team of new and emerging disabled writers with BAFTA-winning writer Peter Bowker – was delivered, from ‘adjustment and access passports’, to supporting mental wellbeing and caring responsibilities, to providing opportunities to deaf, disabled and neurodivergent trainees. Then Barbara Met Alan brought together the largest collective of disabled talent on any UK TV show. The session will also explore how the show fostered such a rich, diverse working environment that captured an important piece of disability social history.

ONLINE MASTERCLASS: COMPOSING FOR BAFTA-NOMINATED GAMES
6 December, 17.00 – 17.45. Free.

Composer and presenter Eímear Noone will host a panel discussion and Q&A with composers behind the BAFTA-nominated games Deathloop (Tom Salta), Psychonauts 2 (Peter McConnell), and Far Cry 6 (Pedro Bromfman). Audiences will be invited to explore what went into the making of each soundtrack, from the creative decisions to how the themes, settings and even gameplay mechanics influenced the creation of these 2022 BAFTA Games Best Music nominations.

MASTERCLASS WITH GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD
8 December, timings & booking will go live later this month. Tickets: £8. Concessions available.

Gina Prince-Bythewood is an American writer, director and producer, known for writing and directing the films Love & Basketball (2000), The Secret Life of Bees (2008) and Beyond the Lights. She most recently directed The Old Guard (2014), and The Woman King (2022). Gina Prince-Bythewood will take audiences an in-depth look into her three-decades-long career to-date, creative processes and what she’s learned along the way.

DAVID LEAN LECTURE FEATURING RYAN COOGLER
Supported by the David Lean Foundation
12 December. Timings & booking will go live later this month. Tickets: £15. Concessions available.

Black Panther (2018) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) director and screenwriter Ryan Coogler will be the 2022 keynote speaker of BAFTA’s prestigious David Lean Lecture. Black Panther found phenomenal success; making history as the first big-budget film to be fronted by a predominantly black superhero ensemble. Having made his mark as a socially-engaged filmmaker with Fruitvale Station (2013) and commercially-successful with Creed (2015), it was Coogler’s vision of a new Marvel-verse in Black Panther that cemented him in Hollywood. With box office takings of over $1billion worldwide, the film was hailed as a major move forward for African-American representation, on and off-screen. BAFTA’s David Lean Lecture is a highlight of BAFTA’s public programme – educating, informing and inspiring the public by providing rare insight into the craft and method of some of the world’s leading and sector defining filmmakers.

A LIFE IN PICTURES WITH KATE HUDSON
Supported by TCL
16 December. Booking will go live later this month. Tickets: £15. Concessions available.

Celebrating the work of the world-renowned multi-award-winning actor Kate Hudson, this year’s third BAFTA: A Life in Pictures will take a deep dive into the life and career of one of Hollywood’s biggest names. Hudson first garnered critical acclaim in 2001 for her role in the iconic 90s film Almost Famous, and in a host of favourites including How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003). Raising Helen (2004), You, Me and Dupree (2006), Fool’s Gold (2008), Bride Wars (2009), Marshall (2017), Music (2021) and now Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022. She is also an established and successful entrepreneur, with multiple lifestyle and wellness brands.