Film festival staff need to stay ‘squeaky clean’, board member tells tribunal

A board member of Belfast Film Festival (BFF) has told an employment tribunal they did not try to punish but investigate a former inclusion and audience development coordinator.

In her claim, Sara Morrison says she was forced out of her job after she joined a rally for Let Women Speak in 2023. The BFF launched an investigation into her attendance and she left work citing stress.

Mark Cousins said he liked Ms Morrison but that BFF had to be very careful and respectful in their process as they did not want to engage with “extremist contexts”.

“We did not try to punish, we tried to investigate. It’s not about guilt,” he said.

“The problem I have personally is that staff members need to stay squeaky clean about being in extremist contexts,” he added.

“It’s not about guilt but getting dirty by association. We never said Sara was guilty of anything.”

It is Ms Morrison’s view that a person cannot change their biological sex.

She made comments at the rally about keeping men out of women’s spaces and criticised a number of local women’s organisations.

Her participation led to complaints by the LGBTQ community to the BFF, which later launched an investigation.

Ms Morrison went off work citing stress, before finally resigning.

She claims in her case, which has received funding from the author JK Rowling, that she was unlawfully discriminated against by the organisation over her beliefs on sex and gender.

The BFF rejects this, as well as her claim of constructive dismissal.

Mr Cousins told the tribunal that the board had to investigate the matter.

“Obviously we can’t control the thoughts of our staff but we can express love,” he said.

“BFF is a broad church and I don’t know the thoughts of a lot of our board members.”

Mr Cousins said he believed the event Ms Morrison attended was toxic.

“I thought the context was ill-advised. There is no problem with Sara having these views, it’s sharing them and making a speech in this toxic extreme context.

“The reason we wanted to investigate was in relation to Sara’s thought process speaking at the rally, given her job title as inclusion and audience development coordinator.”

The tribunal continues.