Sarah Gavron graduated with an MDes in Filmmaking from Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) in 1994. She is the director of "Brick Lane", "Village at the End of the World", and "Suffragette".

Tell us about your time at ECA

It was great - I really didn’t know much about filmmaking and I learnt a lot - partly from the other students. They introduced me to Andrei Tarkovsky and Ingmar Bergman. I got the opportunity to make three short films in my 18 months there and the experience convinced me that I wanted to carry on.

I liked being in an art school environment. It was wonderful to be surrounded by painters and sculptors as well as filmmakers. I loved being in Edinburgh - it is an extraordinary city.

Tell us about your creative practice

I just try to find stories I feel passionately about. Then I keep going and hold on for dear life and don’t give up. I have been inspired by many filmmakers but it has been women directors who have most influenced me.

Tell us about your experiences since leaving ECA

I went on to work on TV documentaries. Then I decided I wanted to make fiction and went to the National Film and Television School (NFTS) for three years to do fiction direction, during which I made a number of short fiction films. Since leaving the NFTS I have made four full length films - one of them a documentary. My latest fiction film is Suffragette.

Alumni Wisdom

"Take advantage of that precious time when you are allowed to experiment. Never take no for an answer and keep making shorts until one gets noticed. Get experience on film sets and in theatre however you can. And watch films and life too.'