This film was a joy to make and everyone loves it – nothing but 5 star reviews on Amazon and it is number eight in a BFI list of best documentaries by women directors.
It is kind of annoying because I sweated no blood over it.
I got a phone all from Heather Croall of the Sheffield DocFest as I just finished One Mile Away but was still in the middle of the heartache and death threats. She was quite hesitant. “You will think this is crazy but I was wondering if you’d be interested in a making a silent archive film about the British coastline with music by British Sea Power.” She was very surprised when I practically bit her hand off. “You’re asking me to make a film in which everyone featured is already dead and nobody will want to kill me or anybody else… Yes please!”
My editor Alex Fry and I spent an intensely enjoyable five weeks in the cutting room watching beautiful mainly black and white footage while it rained outside. It was like having permission to go to matinees and eat sweets every day. We made a film about war, gender, fishing, industry and filmmaking itself and some people say we invented a new creative way of making archive films. We cut to previously recorded tracks suggested by British Sea Power and had rough cut screenings at the BFI which the band attended. When we had finished the cut British Sea Power holed up in a castle in Kent and composed a seamless soundtrack from our scratch track.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sea-Land-Beyond-DVD/dp/B009XD7M10/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1513963669&sr=1-1&keywords=from+the+sea+to+the+land+beyond