Frozen in the sands of time

Forthcoming Frozen is the first full feature film from Juliet McKoen's Barrow-in-Furness based company Shoreline. It is already causing ripples of excitement with its high-profile cast and gripping storyline.

Filming will begin over the Bay in Fleetwood in spring. It stars Shirley Henderson, who has appeared in Harry Potter 2, Trainspotting, 24 Hour Party People and Topsy Turvey. Also topping the bill is Roshan Seth, of Gandhi and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom fame.

Moody, mischevious, ever-moving Morecambe Bay mudflats are Juliet McKoen's inspiration - and lifeline.

She fell in love with them and her boyfriend simul-taneously, moving from London to be near them both.

Almost immediately, her partner fell victim to cancer and died eight months later.

Every afternoon she had taken her dying lover to sit and watch the shifting shafts of sunlight and dancing rain play out their own dramas on this wet Sahara.

After his death, Juliet seized on the sands to bestow solace for her raw grief.

Out of the darkness came Song of the Sands, a highly personal film elegy, making metaphysical visual links between the polluted Kent Sands and the body of a dying man.

Widely acclaimed, it was a personal triumph for Juliet, who has produced around 140 pieces of film and video for Channel 4, BBC 2 and the Arts Council and whose own films three set in the bay - have won major awards and toured internationally.

Juliet, who lives in Ulverston, has co-written the script for Frozen. It has gone through 14 drafts and the plot is compelling.

Two years after the mysterious disappearance of her elder sister, a Fleetwood fish filleter is haunted by the need to know what happened. When police give up on the investigation, she takes matters into her own hands.

Caught in an invisible world between two previously-undiscovered CCTV sightings, long gone Annie is trying to communicate some clues or is it a warning?

In the unlikely setting of a re-vamped technical college, in Barrow-in-Furness, Juliet explains where she is up to. Her office is modest. Staff tiny.

She shot one of her films with the help of a Vickers' shipbuilding worker, who became so smitten with the camera he took himself off to do an HND in filming.

Shoreline workshops and training sessions are crucial to Juliet's philosophy of sharing her passion, and giving something back to the community.

Her debut working with actors was a classic for the Millennium Mavis and the Mermaid, a 14-minute colour cameo, starring Eric Sykes and Sylvia Syms.

It told the story of an eight-year-old girl, who finds unexpected help in coming to terms with her mother's death from an elderly woman who believes she is a mermaid.

Played by Maryport protg Alyx Petre - found after Juliet auditioned more than 100 children the little girl's poignant performance captured the imagination of many, and helped clinch a Kodak/Bafta award. The classic has been seen at festivals from Cannes to Huston, Poland to Edinburgh.

Alyx, and her brother Dean, have since been "discovered", and used by other directors.

Sands and sisters are a recurring theme in Juliet's production. She has two precious siblings. As children, the family moved around to further the parents' respective careers.

Cashing in on her "rootlessness", Juliet wanted to become a foreign correspondent, but her journalistic career got no further than a Birmingham-based freebee.

Studying English Literature at York, she got into hot water with the executors of T.S. Elliot's estate, for making a film about his celebrated poem The Waste Land.

Only shown at the university, there were no further repercussions.

"It made me realise I wanted to continue making images," she said. "I felt passionate about making films for the rest of my life. I had no real persistent vision, only talent and cheek.

"Godfrey Davies Productions took me on as a trainee director. I was doing commercial things, like making films on iron injections for pigs. It was quite challenging, and very frustrating."

It brought membership of the Association of Cinematograph, TV and Allied Technicians and a ticket to work in films.

She worked as an editor, then film production officer for Greater London Arts, before the prime job of production advisor to the Arts Council of England, Channel 4 and BBC.

Juliet came up with 50 one-minute slots for BBC 2's Late Show.

The Ballad of Jimmy Tunn, an experimental fiction about a shipyard worker, commissioned by Ulverston's Welfare State International, brought Juliet to Furness.

In 1991, Juliet made Blood Sisters, a film essay which explored the mythologies of sisterhood. It was a smash hit, selected for a world tour and given the gold award at the Houston Film and TV Festival.

In all, Juliet has 50 awards from international film festivals. Her future in Furness is secure.

"I'm in love with the landscape and the light. Standing on top of a hill, I look around a full 360 degrees and see every single light there is - soft rain; heavy showers; snow; bright sunshine. And it changes, minute to minute."

Hopes are high that the forthcoming Frozen will make it into mainstream cinemas, putting Juliet McKoen's name where it deserves to be in bright lights.

She is excited and optimistic and eager that her Morecambe Bay stage set should be shared with audiences everywhere.

l Log on to www.shorelinefilms.co.uk for information on Juliet's films and workshop opportunities.

February 7, 2003 11:00