Sue Bruce-Smith obituary
My friend and colleague Sue BruceSmith, who has died of cancer aged 62, was deputy director of Film4 for more than 20 years and a much loved stalwart of the British independent film industry.
Her expertise lay in financing and distribution strategies, but quietly and modestly she helped shape every aspect of the films she worked on. Steve McQueen, Andrea Arnold, Jon Glazer and Yorgos Lanthimos – Sue was pivotal in ushering their work through to audience and acclaim. She was central to the success of Mrs Brown, Slumdog Millionaire, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Room, The Last King of Scotland, This is England, You Were Never Really Here, Amy, and, most recently, the Oscar-winner The Favourite.
Born in Birmingham, she was the daughter of Maureen (nee Sinclair), a teacher, and James Bruce-Smith, a GP. After leaving King Edward VI Camp Hill school, she studied French at the University of Kent, then worked as a teacher before getting her first job in film at Palace Pictures in 1985. There she discovered her love of independent film. She went on to work across the industry, including at the BBC and BFI, before in 1997 joining Film4, where for much of her long and influential tenure she worked with Tessa Ross.
Wise, funny and full of optimism, Sue was unrelenting in her commitment to producing great work. Her Bafta special award in 2019 was richly deserved. She believed passionately in broadening the pool of talent and access to funding, and producing work with a social conscience, but most of all in supporting and protecting a filmmaker’s vision. Generous and without ego, she was a friend and mentor to many – she was a wonderful woman to learn from and with.
She was an amazing collaborator with an unerring instinct in how to bring out the best in pretty much everybody – it was impossible not to have a good time with her. That in the end is what made Sue so special. In 2018, when she was already ill, McQueen dedicated the premiere screening at the BFI London film festival of Widows, their fourth film together, to Sue. The entire audience rose to celebrate her work. When she finally took a bow, her smile, her laughter and her pleasure filled the huge cinema.
Sue, alongside her husband Hugo Arnold, whom she married in 1992, was a warm and enthusiastic host. Their houses in Dublin and in Tuscany spilled over with friends of all ages.
Her illness was long and hard, but she navigated it with good humour and style. The films Sue made happen are her public legacy, but my memories of Sue are as an incomparable colleague, a stupendous friend.
She is survived by Hugo and their children, Tom and Ruby.