Jonathan Francesc Gili (1943-2004) directed numerous and wide-ranging television documentaries and features, mostly for the BBC. He was awarded an OBE for his services to broadcasting and the highest accolade from the Grierson Trust: the Trustees Award.

Gili directed documentaries such as To the Worlds End (which brilliantly evoked multi-ethnic London), Mixed Blessings (about babies swapped at birth), BAFTA-winning Public School – Westminster (which drew an audience of 12 million) and his trio of films with Lucinda Lambton – Animal Crackers, A Cabinet of Curiosities and The Great North Road. There followed documentaries for the Timewatch series – Tales of the Eiffel Tower, The Empire State Story, Gold Rush Memories, The Oklahoma Outlaw. He worked on a BBC obituary film of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, narrated by Simon Russell Beale, recognised to be the finest of its genre.

The archive contains a collection of material from all the films from the 1970s to 2004: scripts, shooting schedules, manuscripts, notes, internal BBC correspondence, logistical memoranda, location souvenirs, photographs (including negatives), research material in a variety of media forms, audio rushes, newspaper review cuttings, reaction letters from the public, and correspondence from interviewees and peers, including Julian Barnes, Alan Bennett, Rachel Billington, Kevin Brownlow, Terence Davies, The Duchess of Devonshire, Jonathan Dove, Alan Jenkins, Jonathan Miller, Peter Nichols, Oliver Sachs, Simon Schama, Samuel West and Victoria Wood.

Gili’s archive is a unique and personal record of his work and his working process, but also of the lives he captured in his films. Your donation will enable the BFI to catalogue and make the archive searchable online and will support work to ensure its long-term preservation.

Alan Bennett: “It is right that we celebrate him as a true artist.”

Please visit www.jonathangili.com to see his filmography, obituaries and links to his films on BBC Iplayer.