I would love to see more diversity on all sides, and not just in terms of women; we need people from different walks of life making films. Sarah Gavron More Quotes by Sarah Gavron More Quotes From Sarah Gavron We have come far, but there is an ongoing battle to be fought. Many of the issues the Suffragettes were dealing with are still issues today across the globe: equal pay, parental rights, sexual abuse, etc. Sarah Gavron equal-pay issues rights I want people to be inspired! To remember how hard-fought the battle for the vote was, the debt we owe to women who paved the way for this more egalitarian society we live in, how critical it is to use our vote and to be counted. Sarah Gavron battle want people "Suffragette" is an intense drama that tracks the story of the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement as they fight for the right to vote. Sarah Gavron fighting feet drama We petitioned to get access to film [Suffragette] at the Houses of Parliament and we whooped with joy when we were allowed in, as this is the first ever commercial film to shoot there. Sarah Gavron house joy firsts I had wanted to make this film [Suffragette] for over a decade. There has never been a cinematic rendition of this story. I had not been taught any of the history of the movement at school, and the version I had gleaned had been the Mary Poppins story of women in large hats, petitioning. There was another version. Sarah Gavron hats taught school The challenging of repression by a new generation of activists - from Malala Yousafzai to Pussy Riot - across the globe reminded us how many women are still fighting for basic human rights. Our great-grandmothers' struggle in all its shocking detail seemed so relevant. Sarah Gavron grandmother fighting struggle The suffragettes were women of action. Their motto was "Deeds not Words," and the film reflects that with a number of big set pieces, from the smashing of windows in central London to a riot at the Houses of Parliament. Sarah Gavron pieces house numbers Surround yourself with people who support you. Find champions. Sarah Gavron yourself you support people Just going to Bangladesh was an experience... if you go into small villages in the U.K., they're backward and culturally devoid. But if you go into small villages in Bangladesh, they have classical music concerts. Sarah Gavron small you experience music It's well proven that if you have equality in society, society flourishes, and if you have inequality, it doesn't. So it's good for everybody. Sarah Gavron good you equality society It's my mission in life to put people on the screen who don't get normally represented. Sarah Gavron mission who life people Women in Film and Television is such an important body. Sarah Gavron women body important television My grandmother - my mother's mother - was a German Jewish refugee, an only child who came here from Berlin in 1936 at the age of 17. Sarah Gavron child grandmother age mother As a teenager, I was really interested in drama and art. I did painting and drawing. I did some acting and loved theater. Sarah Gavron loved painting drawing art I started to have these ideas for films. They were like running images in my head. But I didn't think I could be a director. I just literally didn't think it was a possibility. Then I started to suddenly see films of women. Sarah Gavron see think women ideas I made lots of short films, about nine or ten short films. And then I made a television film called 'This Little Life.' Sarah Gavron short film life television I had a mother who got involved in grassroot politics when I was growing up. I watched her have agency and become political in a very male-dominated world. Sarah Gavron politics political mother world The late Victorian Era brought in part-time education. Not everybody went to school, but they were supposed to have a decent level of schooling; they went part-time after 12. Sarah Gavron everybody late education school It's interesting when you read the debates in parliaments between MPs about whether they should give women a vote. It's a lot of fear; it is fear of change. It's fear if women get to vote, family structures will break down. Women will stop having children. Women won't vote for war. Sarah Gavron women family change war Having the vote is just symbolic. There are still many issues on which women don't have any right and, in many countries, where women are given very very few rights. Sarah Gavron right just women vote