INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY – SUFFRAGETTE
WED 8 MARCH
Inspired by true events, “Suffragette” movingly explores the passion and heartbreak of those who risked all they had for women’s right to vote – their jobs, their homes, their children, and even their lives. Academy Award nominees Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter, and three-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep, lead the cast of the powerful drama about the fight for equality in early-20th-century Britain. The stirring story centers on Maud, a working wife and mother who becomes an activist for the Suffragette cause alongside women from all walks of life.
The movement for the right of women to vote had been building momentum for nearly half a century in the U.K. Beginning in 1906, working-class wives and mothers rallied under leader Emmeline Pankhurst to take more drastic measures to secure women’s right to vote. The Suffragettes’ activism for equal rights was tireless; in 1918, a decision granted the vote to many women over the age of 30. It would take another decade, but finally in 1928 all women over the age of 21 could vote – and they became the majority of the electorate in England.
Suffragette is directed by BAFTA Award winner Sarah Gavron and written by Emmy Award winner Abi Morgan. Sarah can’t be with us on March 8 but will give a specially recorded video introduction to Suffragette for the Talkies’ audience. Sarah also talks about the relevance of Suffragette in today’s political climate, how women are represented on film and the challenges of being female film makers.
Telling the story of the suffragette movement… back row (L-R): Sarah Gavron (director), Helen Pankhurst (great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst), Laura Pankhurst (great-great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst), Alison Owen (producer); front row (L-R): Abi Morgan (screenwriter), Anne-Marie Duff (actor), Meryl Streep (actor), Carey Mulligan (actor), Helena Bonham Carter (actor), Faye Ward (producer).