Featured image: Isabelle Dargue

A powerful new film documenting Manchester’s Lights Up movement will premiere at The Savoy Cinema on 9 March as part of International Women’s Day celebrations.

Lights Up is a free, community-led event organised by Bee Pedal Ready and Station South in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University, We Are Cycling UK, MCRActive, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), and Starling Bikes.

The campaign aims to make cycling safer and more inclusive for women and girls after dark, bringing together cyclists of all ages to illuminate the city’s streets and raise awareness of safety and visibility issues.

The short film captures the key messages of the campaign, alongside the energy, colour and community spirit of Lights Up 2025, which saw more than 200 cyclists take to Manchester’s streets. Reflecting on the campaign and its impact, Lights Up founder and Manchester’s cycling mayor Belinda Everett said:

“Lights Up was created three years ago because so many women stop cycling in winter, due to a lack of safe, well-lit routes and the constant calculations they make about their personal safety at night. Lights Up is part of a growing national push to put women’s safety at the heart of how we design and invest in transport.

“That message has now reached Westminster. In January 2026, MPs held a Westminster Hall debate on ‘Women’s safety while walking, wheeling, cycling and running,’ underlining that when women don’t feel safe, they cut back their journeys, limit when and where they travel, or give up cycling altogether. The debate called for well-lit, segregated and visible routes, and for women’s safety to be built into all cycling and walking investment strategies – exactly the kind of change rides like Lights Up are demanding on the ground.”

The film also highlights the accompanying Lights Up exhibition at Victoria Baths, created by aAh! – Manchester Metropolitan University’s student magazine. Featuring photography, illustration, and graphic design, the exhibition reflects the campaign’s focus on women’s safety, visibility, and empowerment in cycling.

aAh! Magazine project coordinator and Multimedia Journalism senior lecturer Natalie Carragher said:“Seeing our students’ work reach the big screen in such an iconic Manchester venue is incredibly rewarding. This project has given our students the opportunity to work on a live community brief, collaborate with community partners and produce creative work that contributes to an important social conversation.”

Reflecting on exhibition and student collaboration, Belinda added: “This is the second year working with the students from Manchester Metropolitan University and aAh! Magazine for the Lights Up event, and the students’ work just keeps getting better and better.

“Seeing Victoria Baths come alive with the creativity and talent from the students is – as one participant said – ‘the cherry on the cake’ to our campaign. The aAh! Magazine students really do capture the important message, as well as keeping it fun and light, which is very much what Lights Up is about.

“From screen-printed illustrated t-shirts to photography, art, and even a hand-drawn picture of me, their work is outstanding.”

Research by the London Cycling Campaign found that 24% of official cycle-network routes were considered ‘socially unsafe’ after dark, and one in three women stop cycling altogether in winter.

Reflecting on the ongoing need for initiatives like Lights Up, Belinda said: “I am going to keep doing this event because we’re nowhere near where we should be.”

The Lights Up film will be screened ahead of the main feature, Breakaway Femmes, which tells the story of the women’s Tour de France held alongside the men’s race during the 1980s.

Belinda said: “We will also be showing an extra special one-off screening of The Breakaway Femmes: the untold story of a golden era of women’s professional cycling, shining a light on the pioneers who refused to accept the sidelines.”

The screening takes place on 9 March at 6pm at The Savoy Cinema in Heaton Moor. Tickets are £11 standard and £9.50 concession, available via The Savoy Cinema box office. As the Lights Up film will be shown shortly before the main feature, guests are encouraged to arrive promptly to ensure they do not miss the screening.