June Givanni was born in Guyana, grew up in the UK and has worked in film and broadcasting for many years. She was co-coordinator of the ‘Third Eye' festival of Third World Cinema in 1983 in London, the "Third Cinema Conference" in Edinburgh and ran the ‘African Caribbean Unit'. She is also the editor of the book Symbolic Narratives/African Cinema, published by the BFI.

More generally, June worked as a film and television programme consultant for over 20 years specializing in African and African Diaspora film internationally, working with festivals, and events and writing about film and television. She programmed the Planet Africa section of the Toronto International Film Festival for 4 years in the late 1990s, and has programmed African and African Diaspora cinema at festivals as far apart as Kerala in India and Images Caraibes in Martinique. June has worked in collaboration with African film festivals and served on film juries at FESPACO (from 1985); Zanzibar Festival of the Dhow Countries; All Africa Film Awards in South Africa; JCCarthage and others on the continent. June is an adviser on Africa First, the short film scheme from Focus Films, targeting African directors, launched in 2008. June continues her work as a curator of African and African Diaspora cinema internationally.

Source:
www.ionfilmfest.com/08/seminars.html