Suffragette premiere: A chat with director Sarah Groven on the red carpet in London

The BFI London film festival kicked off with a charismatic and eventful premiere at Odeon Leicester Square, worthy of the provocative film it selected for its opening gala. The Suffragette premiere saw within its first stars arriving a cacophony of raised voices and a desperate scurry of bodies and body guards as protestors Sisters Uncut barricaded the red walkway, lying prostate across the carpet chanting slogans to a sky filled with suffragette-coloured smoke. The rioters, who protested for 15 minutes against domestic abuse, declared themselves members of the suffragettes.

When we spoke to Helen and Laura Pankhurst on the carpet about the event they said they showed their support for the young rioters cause and techniques; this was what the suffragettes were about, they were loud they were intrusive and they obviously were inspiring.

Suffragette boasts an impressive cast who glided down the carpet at rapid speed to make up for the delay to the start. Carey Mulligan, Brendan Gleeson and Anne-Marie Duff were just a few of many who happily gave interviews projected across Leicester Square before entering the cinema. The poignant nature of the film and the passion for women’s rights of everyone involved came alive as they took to the mics to continue the cause. We chatted to producers Faye Ward and Alison Own about the current sexism within the film critics industry after Meryl Streep’s comments about Rotten Tomatoes’ appalling statistic: of 928 critics, only 168 are women.

We also spoke to Suffragette‘s composed director Sarah Gavron on the characteristics of the suffragettes she most wanted to represent in the film and her time working with Abi Morgan again after their triumph in Brick Lane.

Finally we spoke to the man behind the music, Alexandre Desplat, who evoked within us all the feeling of the fight the suffragettes began and we can continue.

Melissa Hoban

Read our review of Suffragette here.

Sarah Gravon (director)