Directing

Sarah Erulkar

Born — Died

1923-05-02 — 2015-05-29

Place of birth

Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India [now India]

Known for

Directing

Credits

18 titles

Sarah Erulkar was a documentary film maker who was born on May 2nd 1923 and died on 29 May 2015. Born in Calcutta, India ( now Kolkata) she came to England and studied sociology at the University of London before starting work for the Shell Unit as a documentarist. Here she met her husband, fellow film-maker Peter De Normanville by whom she had two daughters. Her film 'Picture to Post' won a BAFTA award as best short film of 1970 and in 2010, several years after she had retired the BFI showed a retrospective of her work at the South Bank.

Known for

Behind the camera

Something Nice to Eat poster
NR

Cooking is a kind of loving, features Jean Shrimpton

Something Nice to Eat

1967

Picture to Post poster
7.0

The film explores the design process of postage stamps and the work of three notable designers, Arnold Machin, Jeffery Matthews and David Gentleman.

Picture to Post

1969

Picture to Post poster
7.0

The film explores the design process of postage stamps and the work of three notable designers, Arnold Machin, Jeffery Matthews and David Gentleman.

Picture to Post

1969

No artwork available
NR

Birthright, which presents the work of the Family Planning Association, is a valuable record of the organisation of contraception and fertility services before the introduction of the contraceptive pill. But, more than this, in its filmmaking style it conveys much about the social attitudes of this era, and the spirit in which those services were conceived and delivered.

Birthright

1958

No artwork available
NR

Birthright, which presents the work of the Family Planning Association, is a valuable record of the organisation of contraception and fertility services before the introduction of the contraceptive pill. But, more than this, in its filmmaking style it conveys much about the social attitudes of this era, and the spirit in which those services were conceived and delivered.

Birthright

1958

No artwork available
NR

A BAFTA award winning documentary looking at Calcutta, the most crowded and overburdened city on Earth.

The Living City

1977

No artwork available
10.0

A pleasure cruiser is abandoned by all aboard and Ian, Janet and Harry, children of a trawler skipper go out in their launch to claim her. They are marooned on the cruiser by accident and saved by a rival trawler skipper.

The Hunch

1967

Into Another Dimension poster
NR

Sarah Erulkar revisits the world of stamp collecting, in this short narrated by Tom Baker.

Into Another Dimension

1983

District Nurse poster
NR

District Nurse documents the daily work of two community nurses serving a rural district in East Sussex, following their rounds across farms, villages, and isolated homes. The film records home-based medical care, patient instruction, emergency response, and maternal health services, situating nursing practice within the rhythms of rural life. Produced in the early years of Britain’s National Health Service, the film presents community healthcare as a foundational element of postwar social welfare and public service.

District Nurse

1952

Lord Siva Danced poster
NR

An introduction to Indian classical dance, presenting regional traditions and their religious and cultural foundations.

Lord Siva Danced

1948

Lord Siva Danced poster
NR

An introduction to Indian classical dance, presenting regional traditions and their religious and cultural foundations.

Lord Siva Danced

1948

Smoking Machine poster
NR

An anti-smoking public information film in which children investigate adult smoking habits, framing addiction as learned behavior rather than maturity.

Smoking Machine

1964

The Air My Enemy poster
NR

Documentary about contamination of the air and other forms of pollution, costing Britain £400 million a year, which are countered by smoke elimination programmes and the use of natural gas, fuel research and other measures.

The Air My Enemy

1971

The Air My Enemy poster
NR

Documentary about contamination of the air and other forms of pollution, costing Britain £400 million a year, which are countered by smoke elimination programmes and the use of natural gas, fuel research and other measures.

The Air My Enemy

1971

No artwork available
NR

Artists, designers and engineers extol the virtues of steel.

Design in Steel

1973

The History of the Helicopter poster
6.0

Following the birth of the helicopter, from the imagination of Leonardo da Vinci through the advent of helicopter technology in the early 1952.

The History of the Helicopter

1952

No artwork available
NR

An educational film aimed at teenagers to highlight the dangers of alcohol addiction.

Dying Of Thirst

—

No artwork available
NR

Promotional film, narrated by actor Donald Houston, about Wales, where the hard-fought battles of the past have deposited tourist-attracting remains for the present (e.g. castles) and where opportunities for modern-day leisure pursuits are provided by the geography of the country.

Land of the Red Dragon

1968