BFI congratulates awardees in the new year honours list

The BFI congratulates all those who have received honours in His Majesty The King’s new year honours list today. We are delighted that among those honoured are Tina McFarling MBE, the BFI’s Head of Strategic Communications until July 2025, for services to the film industry, and David Thomas Gurney MBE, lately Film Laboratory Lead, BFI until summer 2025, for services to cinema and heritage. Idris Elba, a BFI governor from 2019 to 2023, is being awarded a knighthood for services to young people.

For over 45 years, Tina McFarling has been instrumental in shaping the UK film industry’s growth, impact and global standing. Beginning her career as a film journalist in 1980, she built a reputation for incisive analysis of creative and commercial trends. Progressing to senior communications roles at the British Film Commission and the BFI, she then served as a founding member of the UK Film Council, helping consolidate key government film bodies into a single, more effective entity. 

In her senior role at the BFI, McFarling played a leading role in the development and implementation of initiatives such as the Screen Sector Tax Reliefs and the Independent Film Tax Credit, widely credited with propelling Britain’s film production to international prominence. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she worked tirelessly to ensure businesses and freelancers most in need could access financial support, safeguarding livelihoods and preserving vital cultural infrastructure through the development of the Cultural Recovery Fund and support measures that protected independent cinemas and preserved vital cultural and economic assets across the country. 

McFarling has actively championed diversity, inclusion and welfare in the sector. She volunteered on the boards of Women in Film & TV and The Film & TV Charity, supporting professional development and advocating for individuals facing hardship. She is also an industry mentor and has helped honour the legacies of key industry figures by documenting their contributions and organising memorial events. 

McFarling has supported film companies to navigate challenges and expand their operations. Notably, she guided the launch and early development of Altitude, an independent film distribution and production company that has since grown into a significant force within the UK industry. 

Dave Gurney has worked in the film industry for over 40 years. He began his career as a trainee film technician at Rank Film Labs, working in many departments before specialising in optical film effects. After 24 years service with Rank, Gurney moved to Soho Images to continue working with optical film effects, and it was here he honed his skills with duping of archive film and digital special effects.

Gurney joined the BFI National Archive in 2005 as Lab Operations Team Leader. In this role he supervised a specialist team of technicians who handle the processing, printing and cleaning of film required for the conservation of the BFI National Collection. Gurney’s extensive experience in the film laboratory sector has enabled him to develop innovative ways to dupe fragile film materials that conventional duping or scanning are unable to handle. Recently, Gurney has developed the Lab Operations Team’s skills and responsibilities as part of the archive’s transition to a hybridised analogue-digital realm. He retired in the summer of 2025.