We’re excited to be working with Hopscotch Films to co-produce Make Me Up, a new film by acclaimed Scottish artist Rachel Maclean which marks 100 years since women were first given the right to vote in the United Kingdom.

Part horror movie, part comedy, Make Me Up reflects on the shortcomings of our journey towards equality throughout the past century.

The film imagines a dystopian future where a group of women are trapped in a cruel reality TV-style competition in the brutal modernist setting of St Peter’s Seminary. Here, voting is not a liberation – it is a harsh judgement the contestants must face. New arrival Siri learns the rules of a show where compliance and attractiveness are key. Emboldened by her growing friendship with fellow inmate Alexa, Siri finds ways of sabotaging the system and discovers some terrible truths in the process

Make Me Up is the centrepiece of our new strand of programming, The New Agora – an annual series of digital artworks and public events that aims to build genuine conversations across divides. In Ancient Greece, the agora was the forum for public debate. The New Agora programme will provide an open platform to consider issues affecting humanity today, and for this first year we’ll be exploring the theme of Representation.

Make Me Up will be broadcast by the BBC and screened throughout the UK during 2018. We’ll be revealing more information about the tour in Spring. Visit the website to subscribe for updates and find out more.

Represent
Make Me Up is part of Represent, a series of artworks commissioned by 14-18 NOW inspired by the Representation of the People Act 1918. While the act gave the vote only to women over 30, Represent invites young female artists to explore democracy, equality and inclusion in contemporary Britain.