English and Related Literature
Suffragette: the York English connection
Posted on 19 October 2015
Sarah Gavron, director of the award-winning film Suffragette starring Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter and Meryl Streep, is an alumna of the Department of English and Related Literature.
She graduated in 1992, went on to study film at the Edinburgh College of Art, and then, after working in the documentary department at the BBC, went to the National Film and Television School to study feature film directing with Stephen Frears. Gavron made her feature film debut in 2007 with an adaptation of Monica Ali’s novel Brick Lane.
In an interview with Department of English MA student Alfie Packham, she recalled that, as a student at York, she was more involved with theatre than film: “there was a healthy drama environment at university”. But she considers a degree in English “good food” for a career in film “because you’re dealing with stories and dealing with the past”. Stephen Frears recognized this quality in Sarah’s work at the NFTS:“She knows that what’s most important is telling a good story and getting inside the people in that story” (interview with Julie Kavanagh, Intelligent Life, September/October 2015). Her first film, This Little Life, won her a BAFTA for Best New Director in 2004, and the Best Debut Feature award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Suffragette opened the London Film Festival in September and is a likely contender for the Oscars this Spring.
Sarah is particularly interested in stories about women - and in encouraging other women to succeed in an industry notoriously dominated by men: “I definitely want to do all I can to help other women filmmakers, and to encourage them and campaign for more diversity behind the camera – not just in terms of gender. Films reflect our cultures and the stories around us and so I’m committed to that.’