Jill Craigie: Film Pioneer is a three-year research project exploring the career of Jill Craigie, one of the first women to make documentaries in the UK. Her work, often overlooked in film history, encompassed innovative films, a feature, journalism and writing for the screen and as well as a passionate history of the women's suffrage movement.
Jill Craigie (1911 – 1999) was one of Britain’s earliest women documentary makers. Her career as a pioneering film-maker has been largely eclipsed in public memory by her position as a public advocate for feminism and as the wife of former Labour party leader, Michael Foot. Although a handful of other women managed to work in creative roles in the sector (including the Grierson sisters, Ruby and Marion, Kay Mander and Margaret Thomson) and had some support from the Documentary Movement, Craigie’s films stand out because of their overtly feminist and socialist politics, their attempt to juggle activism and entertainment, and, albeit dogged by challenges in securing distribution, a degree of critical recognition on their release.