BFI America

BFI America

BFI America is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization supporting screen culture, learning and heritage in the UK and US. Its donors have contributed over $2 million to date to drive the BFI’s work forward.


There is no other organization like the British Film Institute (BFI).

Its mission stretches from preserving the very first stories on film to being at the forefront of moving image exhibition and production today.

The BFI National Archive is the world’s most significant moving image collection. As it celebrates its 90th anniversary, the BFI is imagining what the screen archive of the future is – a future where everyone, everywhere can be inspired by the magic of the moving image.

Donate to BFI America today to help create and support the world’s most open moving image archive – preserving, restoring and unlocking countless treasures of cinema for generations to come.

Discover the BFI National Archive

Explore how the BFI National Archive preserves your earliest screen memories and inspires you to make unforgettable new ones.

Find out more

Preserving our shared stories

Although richest in material from the UK, the BFI National Archive cares for treasures from around the world – including one of the greatest collections of American screen heritage outside the US.

It preserves over 25,000 American film and television works, including unique, original prints of Sidney Poitier’s debut No Way Out (1950) and Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975), as well as thousands of scripts, photographs and designs telling the unseen stories behind the camera.

The archive team regularly collaborates with American organizations, providing rare source material for restorations or exhibitions and creating new 35mm film prints of landmark US titles.

BFI restorations screen at MoMA in New York, The Castro in San Francisco, the TCM Classic Film Festival and The Academy Museum in Los Angeles, among other leading venues.

Closer to home, audiences can enjoy beloved classics from their sofas through BFI Player Classics.



BFI America Board of Directors

Francesca Vinti – Interim Chair
Barbara Broccoli, CBE
Terry Gilliam
Dr. Mali Heled Kinberg
Deborah Schindler
Colin Walsh
Penelope Wong


Discover the BFI

Explore what the BFI has achieved, what they're doing currently and what they're aiming for in the future.

Find out more

How to donate


Donate by check

To donate by check, please complete the form below and mail with a check made out to ‘BFI America’ to:

BFI America
1350 Avenue of the Americas
Floor 2, Suite 266
New York, NY 10019

Donate by wire, bank transfer, or donor advised fund

BFI America is pleased to accept gifts by wire, ACH transfer, and donor-advised fund. For more information, please contact Vicki Kelsall on:

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7173 3225

Email: BFIAmerica@bfi.org.uk

BFI America is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Donations to it are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. EIN: 95-4334449.