The European premiere Suffragette is opening the 59th B.F.I London Film Festival today.
BFI announced that this year’s opening night film is Suffragette, which kick-starts off the London Film Festival tonight.
This intense and gritty drama is the first feature film to track the story of the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement as they fought for the right to vote. Suffragette tells the story of the ordinary British women at the turn of the 20th century who risked everything in the fight for equality and the right to vote. The film tells the story of the women who were inspired by the suffragette leader, Emmeline Pankhurst, and took their fight for liberation to the male establishment in Westminster.
Maud (Carey Mulligan), a housewife who goes against her husband (Ben Whishaw), risks losing custody of her children in the struggle for equality. Meryl Streep plays Pankhurst, the co-founder of the Women’s Social and Political Union; who revolted by means of hunger strikes and property destruction.
Helen Pankhurst, great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, commented:
“What I love about the film, and what is most important about the film, is that it is not a story about the Pankhursts, it is not a story about the leadership or about schisms in the leadership. It is about one woman’s experiences, what she feels and what happens to her. The best thing is that it gets away from a particular historical story and explains why women got involved in the movement.”
The film stars a superb cast including Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Anne-Marie Duff.
Watch the trailer for Suffragette below;
Suffragette arrives in UK cinemas 12th October 2015.
Book your tickets here.
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