Films that have facially-scarred villains will no longer receive funding from the British Film Institute, the organisation has announced, as part of a campaign to remove the stigma around disfigurement.

From Darth Vader to Scar in The Lion King, film-makers have long made a link between physical disfigurement and evil.

But the BFI is now backing the #IAmNotYourVillain campaign launched by Changing Faces, one of the charities The Telegraph is supporting as part of this year’s Christmas appeal.

As the first organisation to support the project, the BFI is leading the effort to remove the stigma from facial disfigurement by casting actors who do not fit the traditional Hollywood aesthetic.

Ben Roberts, the BFI’s deputy CEO, said: “Film is a catalyst for change and that is why we are committing to not having negative representations depicted through scars or facial difference in the films we fund.”

“This campaign speaks directly to the criteria in the BFI diversity standards, which call for meaningful representations on screen. We fully support Changing Faces’s #IAmNotYourVillain campaign, and urge the rest of the film industry to do the same.”

In line with this commitment, the BFI film fund has given financial backing to a forthcoming drama called Dirty God, featuring a woman in South London rebuilding her life after an acid attack.