Leslie Hardcastle OBE

Leslie Hardcastle OBE, was born into a film and theatre family. He worked for a short time in film production for British Lion Films, and served in the Royal Navy in the Pacific Fleet. His career with the bfi started in the Central Booking Agency, negotiating film supply for the Film Society Movement and the NFT. He was responsible for the NFT for many years, nurturing and developing it through many trials and triumphs, including the introduction of the London Film Festival and the construction of NFT2, and the clubroom/restaurant. He devised the Museum of the Moving Image, leading the team which brought it into being. He was awarded an OBE for service to film, is a Fellow of the bfi, and an Honorary Fellow of the BKSTS. He was awarded a BAFTA for lifetime achievement.

After retiring, Leslie was a consultant to the bfi, devised a matrix for a CD Rom on the history of World Cinema and is currently working on a new teaching resource based on over 2000 sound recordings of lectures at the NFT over the past 40 years by leading film-makers, actors and actresses, which has also been the source for a series of radio programmes.

Leslie is chair of the Uckfield Film Society, winner of the Federation of Film Societies' prize for most inovative new Film Society; a trustee of the Dome Worthing Regeneration Trust, one of Britain's oldest active cinemas; and on the Executive Committee of the Projected Picture Trust, which runs the National Museum of Cinema Technology at Bletchley Park. He is a consultant on film, television, exhibition and museum projects. Outside the world of film he is a board and founder member of the Soho Housing Association which provides social housing in central London, and Vice President of the Soho Society, where he lives.