LONDON (TIP): The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) appointed Krishnendu Majumdar as its new Chair. In doing so, Majumdar becomes the first person of color to be appointed to the role in BAFTA’s 73-year history and the youngest chair in 35 years.
Majumdar 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.
Majumdar 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.
Majumdar has actively supported BAFTA’s year-round program of learning and new talent initiatives, including BAFTA Breakthrough and BAFTA Elevate. Majumdar is also 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.
Krishnendu Majumdar said: “It is a tremendous honor 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.
Krishnendu Majumdar co-founded the independent production company Me + You Productions in 2012, alongside Richard Yee. Since then, Majumdar has produced the critically acclaimed Dominic Savage drama series I Am for Channel 4 and the International Emmy-winning comedy, Hoff The Record. He has executive produced two series of the comedy drama Sick Of It, as well as the documentary series The Moaning of Life. Majumdar was also a showrunner on the BAFTA-nominated global hit franchise, An Idiot Abroad.
Before co-founding Me + You, Majumdar worked as a freelance producer and director. His previous credits include BAFTA-nominated polemical film Who You Callin’ A Nigger? for Channel 4 and the major political film Michael Howard: No More Mr Nasty for BBC Two.
Majumdar 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.
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.