LONDON.- Foundling Fellow Lily Cole has directed a short film for her Foundling Fellowship project, in partnership with the Brontė Parsonage Museum, Yorkshire.

Developed for the Foundling Museum and Brontė Parsonage Museum to mark the 200th anniversary of Emily Brontė’s birth, Balls is displayed at both institutions simultaneously, and screened as part of Culture Liverpool 2018. Cole’s film is inspired by two separate but intertwined stories; the real lives of desperate women and the babies they gave up to the care of the Foundling Hospital in the nineteenth- century, which are meticulously documented in the Hospital’s archives; and Heathcliff, the foundling antihero from Brontė’s much-loved novel Wuthering Heights. Cole’s film is set in modern-day Liverpool, the city from which Heathcliff was rescued.

Balls explores the links between the Foundling Hospital story and Brontė’s novel and reflects on the progress of women’s rights over the past two hundred years.

In addition to the film, each museum is displaying objects from the other’s Collection which relate to Brontė, her sources of inspiration, and the Foundling Hospital story, thereby providing an insight into Cole’s research and a deeper understanding of the narratives that run through the film.

Caro Howell, Director of the Foundling Museum, said: ‘Behind the emotionally compelling story of the Foundling Hospital and Heathcliff are women. Yet their narratives are either absent, inferred or only partially sketched. In Balls, Cole shines a light on these known and unknown nineteenth-century women whose lives were so circumscribed by society, and considers the extent to which progress has been made.’

Jenna Holmes, Audience Development Officer at the Brontė Parsonage Museum said: ‘We’re delighted to be partnering with the Foundling Museum and Lily Cole on this exciting project. Emily Brontė is associated with the moors and nature, but in actual fact Wuthering Heights was a novel written in the heart of the industrial north. Its themes of identity, origins and belonging are of particular relevance to a modern audience and Lily Cole’s exploration of them through her film will highlight the ongoing connection between Emily Brontė’s world and contemporary society.’

The cast is comprised of four actors: Tia Bannon, Sarah Gadon, John Sessions, and Gillian Bevan. Balls has been co-written by Lily Cole and Stacey Gregg, and produced by Kate Wilson at Fury Films. The film has been co-commissioned by the Foundling Museum, Brontė Parsonage Museum and Rapid Response Unit, with support from Arts Council England.

Lily Cole spends her time on art and activism. As an advocate for socio-political and environmental issues, Lily has employed technology, writing, filmmaking and public speaking as means to build awareness and encourage dialogue. Lily was awarded a First Class BA in History of Art from Cambridge University in 2011. In 2013 she co-founded Impossible.com: a technology company that uses technology to solve social and environmental problems. Lily has spoken at Davos, Google's Zeitgeist, Wired and Web Summit, was an affiliate at the Berkman Center at Harvard University, and holds an Honorary Doctor of Letters from GCU. Lily is a patron of the EJF and has worked significantly with WWF. She writes often for national and international press. Impossible Utopias is Lily's first book.

Lily has worked with notable photographers and artists from Steven Meisel to Gillian Wearing. She was the youngest model to appear on the cover of British Vogue, and was listed by French Vogue as one of the top 30 models of the 2000s. Lily began working as an actress when she was 6 years old, then returned to film when she was 16 in Marilyn Manson’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. In 2009 she played the female lead in Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus. Since then she has made over fifteen films with directors including Sally Potter, Shekhar Kapur, Roland Joffe, Mary Harron and Rian Johnson; performed at the Globe theatre and The Old Vic theatre. Lily wrote and presented a six-part TV series on contemporary art for Sky Arts, shoots photography and has directed several short films. Cole is working with the Brontė Parsonage Museum as a creative partner during 2018, the bicentenary of the birth of Emily Brontė.