British Film Institute Fellowship British Film Institute Fellowship The British Film Institute (BFI) is a charitable organisation established in 1933, based in the United Kingdom. It has awarded its Fellowship title to individuals in "recognition of their outstanding contribution to film or television culture" and is considered the highest accolade presented by the Institute: British actor John Hurt said the award was "the highest honour possible". The first awards were made in 1983, the same year as BFI National Archive's Silver Jubilee and the BFI's fiftieth anniversary, and as of February 2017, there are 85 Fellows. Awards are not presented every year, but every
BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer first version of the award was established by the Foreman Williams Jones Foundation in 1991. Scholarships were awarded to promising British students to study filmmaking in the United States. The present version of the award was initiated by the Foundation in 1997 and was conducted jointly by the Foundation and by BAFTA until 2009. It was established to encourage British filmmaking by recognising the most promising British newcomer in the selected disciplines of screenwriting, producing or directing (or in more than one of these disciplines). The first award of the present version was made in respect of 1998. In 2009,