A moving film about a dying woman’s last wish that was written by Write Out Loud’s joint founder, Julian Jordon, and directed by his nephew, Mark Jordon, is being shown at Manchester's Cornerhouse cinema on Friday 7 December.

The title of To The Sea Again refers to Sea Fever, the poem by John Masefield. The film, which features the former Coronation Street star Jean Alexander, pictured, is about a woman dying in hospital. Her son and grandson both want to do what’s best for her in the time she has left. The son wants to make her last days comfortable; the grandson, with help from his friends, plans to take her to the sea again.

Julian said the script was based on a piece of therapeutic writing he composed after the death of his mother, who during his childhood often quoted the first line from Sea Fever - “I must go down to the seas again, the lonely sea and the sky ...” -  with a faraway look in her eye.  

He thought no more about it, then went on Jimmy McGovern’s Arvon course on scriptwriting. “Whilst there, I happened across this piece I had written and thought it was not bad. I showed it to him and he said, drop the script you are doing and focus on this. Make it a monologue.” Julian then sent it to his nephew Mark, who, wanting to create his own indie TV company some time later, asked him to write a script based on the monologue.

To The Sea Again has been a finalist at two film festivals in Canada and the US, including Hollywood’s Moondance, and has been shown at Paramount Studios. This is the first time it will have been seen by a paying public, as part of the Cornerhouse’s North West Filmmakers season. Friday’s screening, along with a number of other short films produced in the north-west, takes place from 6.30-8.30pm.  

PHOTOGRAPH: ©JOEPOP PRODUCTIONS