The cameras have officially stopped rolling on an exciting new “coming-of-age surf and skateboarding drama” shot last week in Jersey.
Directed by award-winning Jersey-based director Rebecca Coley, the film – titled Always Towards The Ocean – follows a pair of 18-year-old twin sisters navigating the tail-end of adolescence “across a single day at the end of a long hot Jersey summer”.
The production makes lavish use of Jersey’s beaches and tides, and ties the Island’s vibrant surf and skate scene into the languid coming-of-age narrative.
The film will serve as a proof of concept for Coley’s narrative feature film debut. The director previously attracted acclaim for her surf feature Point of Change, which won Best Documentary at the LA Film Awards.
The project was dreamed up and produced by twins Emily and Bethany Cornelius of Cornelius Productions.
Speaking to Express, Bethany said filming went “really well”, despite the mixed UK and Jersey crew having to battle “extreme” weather conditions.
“We were dealing with 40-mile hour winds during our surf sequences which was a bit tricky,” she laughed, “but in the end we managed to get everything really well”.
She explained that the film is “going into post-production until probably the end of the year”, which will involve “edit and then sound, music and colour grading.
“Then it will be submitted into festivals from the beginning of next year – hopefully premiering in spring or summer.”
Bethany described shooting the film as “quite an interesting experience” and “one that the crew absolutely loved”.
“Everybody really got on amazingly – the Jersey crew were super crucial, as were some of the UK crew who had not been to Jersey and absolutely fell in love with the island.
“We are planning to do a feature film [with Rebecca] here, we would absolutely love to do that, so hopefully this is the beginning of more Jersey productions.”
In a statement, director Rebecca Coley referred to Always Towards The Ocean as a “story that could only be told here”.
“Jersey’s coastline isn’t just a backdrop, it’s a character in this film,” she said. “We’re incredibly proud to be building this production on-island, with a crew and community who understand what the ocean means to the people who grow up beside it.”
