Secondary Source
Video-Slideshow: Film’s Role in the British Suffrage Movement
Bryony Dixon. "Suffragettes: Make More Noise." British Film Institute, October 5, 2015.
Era: Post-Suffrage Era | Media: Curated Photos/Ephemera, Documentary Film, Film, Video, Web-based
British Film Institute Silent Film Curator Bryony Dixon created this slideshow, which combines text, still images, and video clips from the British suffrage movement, to celebrate the release of the 2015 film Suffragette.
The slideshow includes historical background on the push for women’s suffrage in the UK, but its particular focus is the way in which suffragettes used film—then a silent, nascent medium—to further their cause. As the BFI puts it, Dixon “explores how the BFI’s collections highlight the passion and media savvy of the suffragettes’ struggle, offering a fascinating portrait of British women during this time.”
Dixon examines more than just suffragettes’ use of film, however; she also looks at their portrayal in non-suffragist movies from the era, and the slideshow includes short clips of some of the most famous examples of suffrage in early film, making it a useful—if compact—primary-source guide.
The webpage also contains a short documentary video in which Dixon discusses similar topics.