British producer Gayle Griffiths dies aged 49

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British producer Gayle Griffiths has died following a battle with cancer. She was 49.

Griffiths, who died on Friday (Oct 23) in London, was perhaps best known for producing Joanna Hogg films Archipelago (2010) and Exhibition (2013), which both starred Tom Hiddleston, as well as urban drama My Brother The Devil (2012).

• COMMENT: Joanna Hogg remembers Gayle Griffiths

Sally El Hosani, director of My Brother The Devil, wrote on Facebook: “I can honestly say that the film wouldn’t have been what it was without her input and wisdom. She had real vision and believed in the film when many others in the industry didn’t. She was a fighter with a truly generous heart and empathy for the underdog.

“She was never one to make a fuss about her health and all through the filming of My Brother The Devil nobody would have guessed she was also having cancer treatment. Her passing is a loss not just to those who knew her, but to British film… What films she would have gone on to make. It’s just so sad. I owe her so much both personally and professionally.”

James Floyd, who played the lead in the film, added: “She was a true fighter. Honest at all times, she never bowed to mainstream opinion, with a true empathy for the underdog. But alas Cancer was too much in the end.”

Sunderland-born Griffiths was managing director of London-based Wild Horses Film and continued to develop projects after her last feature, 2013’s Exhibition, but had scaled back her work in recent months.

Griffiths attended the UK’s National Film and Television School (NFTS) where she studied producing under Sandy Lieberson from 1995-1998, and worked in production on John Sayles’ The Secret of Roan Inish and Franco Zeffirelli’s Jane Eyre.

She graduated from the NFTS after producing several short films, including John McKay’s The Price and Emily Young’s Second Hand, which received the Cinefondation Prize at Cannes in 1999.

Griffiths then developed and produced Young’s Kiss Of Life, which was selected for Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2003 and won Young the Carl Foreman Award for Special Achivements in a First Feature at the 2004 BAFTAs.

Her second feature, Song of Songs, marked the directorial debut of Josh Appignanesi (The Infidel) and received its world premiere at Edinubrgh 2005 where Appignanesi won a special commendation by the Michael Powell Jury.

Griffiths herself won the Alfred Dunhill UK New Talent Award at the London Film Festival in 2005.

She first worked with Joanna Hogg in on the director’s second feature, Archipelago, which was released in 2010 and starred Tom Hiddleston before he found fame in Marvel superhero movies.

This was followed by internationally acclaimed hit My Brother The Devil in 2012, which won prizes at Sundance, Berlin, London and the BIFAs among others.

Griffiths worked with Hogg again on Exhibition, released in 2013, which proved to be the producer’s final feature.

Nik Powell, director of the NFTS, said: “Gayle was the most independent and risk taking of producers working with the most authorial and adventurous of directors.

“She was a unique talent and a very special person. The industry will miss her enormously as will I‎.”

Griffiths is survived by her husband, Philip.