The only thing that I can remember about this was an interview with Bernard (may have been audio, video or in the press) where he said that the band had the option to work with either Powell or the FA to do 'World In Motion'.
Apparently, Bernard was a big fan of Powell and therefore wanted to do that project, but the rest of the band / Factory opted for the FA thing. They planned to get together with Powell after 'World In Motion'.
However, Powell died (in February 1990) and Bernard said that he was a bit pissed off with the rest of the band for missing the opportunity.

I think the interview was probably around the time of the release of the England single or maybe during an 'Electronic' interview in 1991.

When you say 'treatment', I'm unfamiliar with the term. What exactly are we talking about here? Filmed material, soundtrack etc?

I'd forgotten it was in Hooky's book.

Here's the relevant three quotes about it:

"In typical fashion, straight after we split we ended up getting back together again, two ideas being mooted. Project number one was very interesting creatively: a long-talked about collaboration with the famous film director Michael Powell, of The Red Shoes. Michael Shamberg had been pushing this one for a while and it looked as if finally it had come to fruition. We went to meet Michael Powell, then in his mid-eighties, in his offices in London. He was lovely and very enthusiastic about our music. I think the others saw this as an opportunity to feature a new synthesiser dancey track but Michael said, ‘No’. He had already chosen the track ‘Age of Consent’. I was delighted. His idea was to film a piece based on a poem called ‘The Sands of Dee’ actually on the sands of the River Dee, which winds its way through Chester and out into the Irish Sea. ‘Rugged and wild, much like the song’, he said. I couldn’t have been happier when he said that. Stick that in your dancey pipe and smoke it, you cunts. The dramatisation was to star Tilda Swinton.

Project number two couldn’t have been more different: a collaboration with the England football squad for the 1990 World Cup. This was purely commercial and could not be turned down. We all wrinkled our noses but had no doubt that for New Order and hence for our solo projects this was indeed great news."

...

"(A sad note on the session was the passing of Michael Powell at the age of 85, meaning the ‘Age of Consent’ art film project guide with him. Shame, a lovely man.)"

...


"Timeline Eleven
January-December 1990

19 February 1990
British film director Michael Powell dies."

Edited by user 04 March 2020 14:18:44(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

God, I loathe him. He's a smug piece of shit who only hates dance music because 1. his timing is awful (see: ANY live intro to Age Of Consent), and 2. his contribution to dance music (One True Passion) was considered a flop. He was certainly happy enough to cash in with his "DJ" sets, Hacienda compilations, and a fucking book.

Edited by user 04 March 2020 14:49:59(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

A poem Sylva Plath wrote before She died. Not after, that'd be difficult.
There were two projects in 90, the soundtrack to Powell's Sands of (Jack) Dee or World in Motion. According to Stephen, WIM won cos 'it was put rather persuasively to us that we wouldn't make much money, and Michael Powell died.' A tad of info in the 'Item' sleevenotes too.

Yes, Hooky is a total dick but as long as he tours with The Light I can forgive him. 14 quid for 2 hours of lost gems like Tiny Tim and Ecstasy, thrashed out by a note-perfect band featuring their most distinctive musician? Fine by me.

I gave up on that after 15 mins. Thought it was pretentious w*nk. Maybe I shall try again.
I liked tilda in Okja directed by Bong Joon Ho who hit the Oscars jackpot this year with Parasite (wow a good film actually won best Picture & Director!).

There is actually a bit about this in the latest issue of Sight & Sound, with Tilda Swinton on the cover but I'm presuming the writer was more interested in Swinton & Powell than NO themselves.