Just weeks after her latest film, Viceroy’s House, had its world premiere in Berlin, Gurinder Chadha has donated her entire working archive to the British Film Institute’s National Archive.
The BFI helped produced the Punjabi-British filmmaker’s breakthrough, the 1989 documentary I’m British but…. Since then, Chadha has directed features such as 1993’s BAFTA-nominated Bhaji on the Beach and Bend It Like Beckham, which smashed box-office records for a British film in 2002, alongside titles such as Bride and Prejudice (2004), Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008) and It’s a Wonderful Afterlife (2010).
She was awarded an Order of the British Empire award in 2006 for her services to the British film industry.
The archive contains 37 boxes of paper and digital material, including script drafts and shooting scripts, story development notes, budgets, correspondence, on-set photographs and other production paperwork as well as extensive material relating to publicity, marketing and press.
“I am overjoyed that the BFI will be the home to my working archive,” said Chadha. “For 28 years, I have kept a record of all my research, notes, scripts, photos, etc. for all of my films. I realized that this archive comprises an important history of British Asian cinema, and I am very pleased that the BFI will now preserve and share it with future generations of film-makers and film enthusiasts.”
Viceroy’s House was released in the U.K. on March 3.
