Women from Hackney’s History: A New Film

Following the success of our two Women from Hackney’s History books and our first film, Women of Abney, we decided to make another film to help bring the stories of the 200 remarkable women featured in the books to a wider audience.

A small Hackney-based team, comprising Sue Doe as consultant, filmmaker Barney Snow and actor Nina Sprigge, developed a plan to write and create factually accurate stories about eleven women featured in the books. With help from the Tower Theatre, which generously provided costumes and helped find actors, auditions were held and eleven actors were cast.

The film features women from the 17th century to almost the present day. With one exception, all the stories were filmed in and around Hackney, at locations including Hoxton Hall, the Rio Cinema and Sutton House, as well as a local pub, studios and outdoor settings.

The resulting 65-minute film was first screened to a full house at the Rio Cinema in March 2026, to mark International Women’s Day. It was screened again at the Rio in May as part of the Hackney History Festival.

Watch the film trailer here.

We plan to screen the film again for International Women’s Day 2027, after which we hope to make it available on our YouTube channel.

We’re already thinking about a follow-up film, potentially exploring the history of women’s suffrage. Further announcements will follow in due course.