The British Urban Film Festival (BUFF), the leading BAME (Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic) film festival in the UK, today announced that BBC Films is set to sponsor its showpiece film awards in September.

The deal marks the first time that the two organisations have worked together.

Previously, the festival has had on-air partnerships with Channel 4, London Live (ESTV), Community Channel (Media Trust) and Showcase TV on Sky. The second annual British Urban Film Festival awards will take place at Hilton Tower Bridge on September 18th in London.

The ceremony (to be hosted by Adam Deacon and Femi Oyeniran) will award writers, producers and directors whose work has been showcased by BUFF over the past 12 months.

“We are proud to be part of the British Urban Festival and look forward to celebrating all of the fantastic talent involved.” Said head of BBC Films Christine Langan.

Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe, the founder and CEO of BUFF, added: “This deal signals the start of an exciting new era. In 2015 we celebrated our 10th anniversary with the first ever BUFF awards. That event plus the long and illustrious history of the festival shows how far we have come in championing diversity. The BBC has an integral role to play in showcasing talent within the diversity spectrum and we are delighted by their passion and their commitment to the British Urban Film Festival.”

Established in 2005, the British Urban Film Festival was initially formed to showcase urban independent cinema in the absence of any such state-sponsored activity in the UK. Supported by a board which includes actors, journalists, film critics and filmmakers, BUFF stands out as the only festival of its kind with a triple offering of online, on-air and spectator platforms where filmmakers and scriptwriters are presented with the opportunity to have their work showcased to the largest audience reach possible. As a publisher-broadcaster BUFF’s objective is to premiere a minimum of 25 films annually in the UK, celebrating difference and to champion, embrace, disrupt and accurately reflect the changing cultural mass and demographic make-up of the UK as expressed primarily through film.

This year’s festival, the 11th edition, will run from September 14-20.