James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli is adding an important new role to her considerable portfolio. In a press release issued by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), it has been announced that she has been appointed Vice President for Film for the highly prestigious independent charity.
The Bond producer’s main role for BAFTA will be as an ambassador for the organisation. It follows the recent appointment of former BBC man Greg Dyke as BAFTA’s Vice President for Television, and Broccoli will join Dyke in co-chairing BAFTA’s Council, supporting the Academy’s President, His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge.
Barbara Broccoli commented: ‘I am passionate about BAFTA’s role in educating, inspiring and celebrating generations of British film-makers. I am therefore honoured to accept the role of BAFTA’s Vice President for Film’.
Anne Morrison, the Chair of BAFTA, said she was ‘delighted’ that the Bond producer will be joining BAFTA as their Vice President for Film, adding that Broccoli is ‘one of the most illustrious and respected people in the contemporary film industry’, and the charity will ‘benefit hugely from her experience and wisdom over the next few years’.
As well as co-producing the hugely successful James Bond movies alongside her brother Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli already has a number of other philanthropic roles. These include as a Trustee of Into Film, the film education charity which works with young people in the UK aged 5-19; she also acts as a Patron of the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund; and she has Honorary roles at both the National Film and Television School and at Women in Film and Television UK. In addition, Broccoli also sits on the Board of Governors for BAFTA Los Angeles.
Her future producing projects include, of course, early planning and pre-production on Bond 25, as well as a new stage version of Othello at the New York Theatre Workshop, which is scheduled for December, 2016. This will be directed by Sam Gold and will star David Oyelowo and current Bond actor Daniel Craig.
