With little over a fortnight until its premiere at the BFI London Film Festival, today brings forth a fresh batch of character posters for Sarah Gavron’s anticipated period drama, Suffragette.
Charting the trials and tribulations – of which there were many – of the foot soldiers who protested during the suffrage movement circa 1872, Gavron’s feature is one which practically screams Oscar nomination, marshalling together a star-studded cast list to make any fellow contender glow green with jealously. Carey Mulligan leads the charge as Maud Watts, a hard-working woman who finds her life upended when she picks up the picket signs and begins campaigning for women’s rights.
The actress is joined by Meryl Streep – no stranger to the Academy’s gold statuette – and Helena Bonham Carter as fellow campaigner Edith New. Rounding out the ensemble are Ben Whishaw, Brendan Gleeson, Romola Garai, Anne-Marie Duff, and Samuel West.
London’s famous Leicester Square cinema will play host to the premiere of Suffragette, and it’s understood the period drama will be screened across the country on the same night ahead of a wide release on October 12. As for North America, Sarah Gavron’s feature has been penciled in for release on October 23.
Suffragette is a powerful drama about the women who were willing to lose everything in their fight for equality in early-20th-century Britain. The stirring story centers on Maud (played by Carey Mulligan), a working wife and mother whose life is forever changed when she is secretly recruited to join the U.K.’s growing suffragette movement. Galvanized by the outlaw fugitive Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep), Maud becomes an activist for the cause alongside women from all walks of life. Inspired by true events, Suffragette is a moving drama exploring 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.