London Film Festival opens with Suffragette and protests

The London Film Festival opened Wednesday with Suffragette,the story of British women who fought for the right to vote a milestone on a journey to equality that many believe is still unfinished.

In an echo of the suffragettes' direct-action tactics, about a dozen protesters from anti-domestic violence group Sisters Uncut got past barriers and lay on the red carpet at the film's glitzy festival premiere.

The group carried signs saying "Dead Women Can't Vote," and said on Twitter they were continuing the suffragettes' struggle for women's equality.

Starring Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter and Meryl Streep, the gritty early 20th-century drama Suffragette, think blood and sweat, not Downton Abbey,was directed by Sarah Gavron (Brick Lane) and written by Abi Morgan (The Iron Lady.)

Suffragetteis a film directed by British women about British women who changed the course of history," said festival director Clare Stewart.

Stewart said its selection as opener signals the festival's desire to ask "what can we be doing to break down the barriers for women directors and how can we be ensuring that the debate is front and center for the film industry?"

Streep's Suffragette controversy

9 years ago

Duration 1:51

Meryl Streep and her Suffragette co-stars have sparked a row over slogan tees worn to promote the film

Suffragette controversy

Meanwhile,Streepand three fellowSuffragettecast membershave come under fire after appearing in a photo shoot last week wearingt-shirtswith the slogan"I'd rather be a rebel than a slave."

The quote is drawn from a1913 speechbyEmmelinePankhurst, whoStreepportrays in the film.

The photos,published in Time Out London alongside interviews withStreep, Mulligan,RomolaGaraiand Anne-Marie Duff,sparkedcontroversy on socialmedia, with many in North America calling it racially insensitive.

The magazine defended the use of the slogan, sayingthe original quote wasaimed to "rouse women to stand up against oppression,"and was not intended to refer to American slavery or the American Civil War "as some people who saw the quote and photo out of context have surmised."

London festspotlights46 female directors in features category

While festivals including Cannes have been criticized for choosing few works by female filmmakers, 46 of the 238 features in the London lineup are by women, including Deepa Mehta's Indian-Canadian gangster movie Beeba Boysand Ondi Timoner's Russell Brand documentary Brand: A Second Coming.

• Beeba Boys brings Deepa Mehta into gang territory

Stewart said the figure "sounds fantastic when you say it like that, and then you realize it's still only 20 per cent of the program."

Festival organizers have also invited actress Geena Davis, founder of an institute on gender in media, to host a symposium during the event.

Cate Blanchett star of two festival entries, lesbian romance Caroland journalism drama Truth will receive the British Film Institute Fellowship, a career honour.

Boostedprofile, bigger movies,more stars

Founded in 1957 to show the best of the year's world cinema to a British audience, the London festival has boosted its profile in recent years with bigger movies, more glittering stars and prizes positioned to boost emerging awards-season contenders.

This year's lineup includes prize-winners from the Berlin, Cannes, Toronto and Venice festivals, as well as high-profile fall releases including gangster thriller Black Mass,with Johnny Depp, and McCarthy-era drama Trumbo,starring Bryan Cranston.

Gala presentations include Nicholas Hytner's The Lady in the Van,starring Maggie Smith as a redoubtable eccentric; John Crowley's Irish-American journey Brooklyn; Lenny Abrahamson's mother-son story Roomand Davis Guggenheim's documentary He Named Me Malala.

On Oct. 17 a jury led by Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski will award the prize for best film, from a list of nominees that includes Cary Fukunaga's child-soldier saga Beasts of No Nationand Laszlo Nemes' searing Holocaust drama SonofSaul.

The 59th London Film Festival wraps up Oct. 18 with Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs,starring Michael Fassbender as the Apple founder.