November 9, 2025

Remi Adefarasin OBE BSC to receive the 2026 BSC Lifetime Achievement Award

Christopher Ross BSC, announced last night at Operators Night that the 2026 BSC Lifetime Achievement Award honouree will be Remi Adefarasin OBE BSC.

Remi’s journey in the field of Cinematography began in 1968 when he was accepted as a trainee for the BBC’s film department at Ealing Studios. His first summer in the job saw him assisting cinematographer Alan Jonas on the BBC project “The Borderers” an almost-Western set between the frontiers of Scotland and England in the sixteenth century.

Remi became hooked and spent over eleven years as a camera assistant working on documentaries, music programmes and of course his favourite, dramas. During that time he spent five years with Brian Tufano BSC (Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, 2020) who Remi credits as teaching him a great deal.

In 1979 Remi was promoted to cinematographer and stayed working for the BBC until 1995. During his time as an in-house BBC cinematographer, he worked with directors ranging from Mike Leigh, Anthony Minghella, Adrian Shergold and Angela Pope on projects as wide-ranging as “Doctor Who” and “Hi-Di-Hi”, to critically acclaimed Plays- of-the-Week including “Memento Mori” (for which he was nominated for a BAFTA in 1993) and Mike Leigh’s “Home Sweet Home”.

In 1997 Remi shot the BAFTA-nominated “Sliding Doors” and it was this film that brought him to the attention of director Shekhar Kapur who asked if he would shoot “Elizabeth”. “Elizabeth” would go on to win the BAFTA for Best Cinematography, as well as the BSC Cinematography in A Feature Film Award, however it would be his nomination for Best Cinematography at the Academy Awards that would add him to the history books as he became the first black cinematographer to be nominated in the category.

Since “Elizabeth” Remi has continued to build an extraordinary body of work working with some of the biggest directors and stars in our industry including “Band of Brothers” (for which he was Emmy-nominated): “Match Point”; “Onegin”, “About A Boy”; “The House of Mirth” and most recently the BAFTA-winning TV Series “Mr Loverman”.

In 2012 Remi was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

The Lifetime Achievement award will be presented on the 7^th February 2026.

Christopher Ross BSC, President of the BSC “The Board of Governors of the British Society of Cinematographers would like to see Remi’s body of work added to the list of those who have received our Society’s highest honour, the Lifetime Achievement Award. Throughout his career Remi has shown complete dedication to the art of Cinematography, elevating the films that he has contributed to and, in so doing, becoming a trailblazer in his field. I wish to pass on my warmest congratulations to Remi and look forward to celebrating alongside him next year as he receives this special honour.”