Chanya Joyce Dorothy Button is an English director and screenwriter. After studying at RADA and learning the ropes in the assistant directors' department on the Harry Potter franchise, she directed two feature films, Burn Burn Burn (2015) and Vita & Virginia (2018), the latter of which she also co-wrote. She then moved on to television, directing the 2019 period dramas World on Fire and The Spanish Princess, as well as the final 60th anniversary special episode of Doctor Who, "The Giggle" (2023).
Button at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival screening of Vita & Virginia
Elizabeth Debicki in 2012
Virginia Woolf in 1902
Vita & Virginia is a 2018 biographical romantic drama film directed by Chanya Button. The screenplay, written by Button and Eileen Atkins, is adapted from the 1992 play Vita & Virginia by Atkins. The film stars Gemma Arterton, Elizabeth Debicki, and Isabella Rossellini. Set in the 1920s, Vita & Virginia tells the story of the love affair between Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf.
Theatrical release poster
Elizabeth Debicki in 2012
Virginia Woolf in 1902