Branchage is a film festival held in the Channel Island of Jersey. The festival was founded in 2008Like Cannes, without the bunfights Catherine Shoard, The Guardian, 5 September 2009 by filmmaker Xanthe Hamilton Dazed met up with Branchage founder Xanthe Hamilton to talk about one of the most unique independent film festivals around Dazed & Confused, 2009 to bring film and arts to the island. It is a mix of site-specific film screenings held across the island in churches, castles, barns, and bunkers alongside more conventional arts spaces and cinemas, alongside film and art commissions, live soundtracks to film, short film programmes, industry networking and spectacular themed parties mixing live performance, name DJs and cabaret.
Branchage is a not for profit organisation.
2008 Festival
The inaugural Festival opened with a screening of the Oscar-winning documentary feature Man on Wire (dir: James Marsh) in the Opera House, followed by a Q&A with producer Simon Chinn; Simon became patron to the Festival in 2009. First Branchage festival to open in Jersey with Man On Wire Screen Daily, 7 August 2008
The Branchage Spiegeltent was erected in Weighbridge Square, St Helier, for the first time. Saturday night saw the first Bordée de Branchage, a party inspired by burlesque cabaret and circus sideshows, featuring a live performance from Paloma Faith alongside DJ duo The Broken Hearts. Friday night saw a Warp Records themed party with a live set from The Oscillation and DJ set by Broadcast, in celebration of the Warp Films release: A Complete History of My Sexual Failures (dir: Chris Waitt). Saturday afternoon saw local Jersey musicians perform live as part of the Beat Happening Sessions, and Sunday afternoon saw broadcaster and writer Jonny Trunk transmit a live film soundtracks radio show for Resonance FM.
Electronica composer Zan Lyons was commissioned to create a live score to a commissioned film by artist/filmmaker Sarah Wood using Jersey archive footage, called Angel of History, to premiere in the Jersey War Tunnels.
The Kings Chamber Orchestra performed a live score to Suzie Templeton's animated version of Peter and the Wolf 1,200 local school children watched the event in the Jersey Opera House, followed by an evening public evening performance.
Folk musicians The Memory Band performed a live score by candlelight to classic British horror film The Wicker Man (1973) in the medieval hall of Mount Orgueil Castle.
The art collective Le Gun were commissioned to create an art installation at the Old Magistrate Court police cells.
Directors Barbara Hammer and Lizzie Thynne both attended Branchage for screenings of their documentary films about Jersey artists Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore. This was the first time both films had screened together, and a Q&A session was held with the two filmmakers after the films.
Comedian Graham Fellows attended Branchage in support of alter ego John Shuttleworth's feature film Southern Softies, filmed in the Channel Islands as the UK's most southerly point.
Imaginary Summer (dirs: Rebecca Coley / Richard Hall), Jersey's first-ever full length fiction feature film, was premiered at Branchage. Love Me Still (dir: Danny Hiller), funded through Jersey's Defiant Productions and starring British character actor Tom Bell, also premiered.
The Branchage Bootcamp helped local Channel Island filmmaking talent between 16 and 25 to make short documentary films to premiere at the Festival, mentored by UK filmmakers The Blaine Brothers.
The Forum Cinema (now closed) hosted classic British feature film screenings by Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell and David Lean.
Other documentaries screened at the Festival included Heavy Metal in Baghdad, In The Shadow of the Moon, Joy Division, The King of Kong, Patti Smith: Dream of a Life, My Winnipeg, 5 Miles North of Molkom, We Are Together, UK skateboard documentary Rollin' Through The Decades, and the classic Maysles Brothers' film Gimme Shelter. Other feature films screened included Garage, Mouth To Mouth (starring a pre-fame Ellen Page), the Brazilian box office hit Elite Squad and the Polish box office hit Ladies; many of the films were accompanied by Q&As with directors and producers. There were guest short film programmes from London Short Film Festival, Birds Eye View, the UK Film Council, Rushes Soho Shorts and Channel Four FourDocs.
There was a series of industry events hosted by Shooting People and iQ (The Apple Shop).
The festival £10,000 short film award for a Channel Island filmmaker went to director Michael Pearce, for his National Film & Television School graduation film Madrugada. The jury consisted of Rebecca Mark-Lawson (UK Film Council), James Mullighan (Shooting People), Deputy Kevin Lewis, and John Davey (Spearpoint Ltd).
The 2008 Festival closed with a screening of British comedy feature Faintheart, directed by Vito Rocco and starring Eddie Marsan, Jessica Hynes and Ewen Bremner, set amongst the world of Viking battle re-enactment societies. The screening took place at Mount Orgueil Castle, and was preceded by a drinks reception on the Castle battlements with a particularly strong serving of local cider.
2009 Festival
The second Festival opened with a screening of the Werner Herzog documentary feature about Antarctica Encounters at the End of the World in the Jersey Opera House, followed by a Q&A with Herzog's regular editor Joe Bini.
The first Branchage box office opened in an empty shop, next to the now-demolished Southampton Hotel on Weighbridge Place, right opposite the Spiegeltent.
The Branchage Spiegeltent returned to Weighbridge Square for a second year, sponsored by Barclays Wealth. Saturday night saw the return of Bordée de Branchage, featuring live performances from Kitty Daisy & Lewis, The Correspondents and Turner Prize nominee Jeremy Deller's Acid Brass, as performed by Jersey's Premier Brass. Friday night saw the 100% Dynamite reggae party hosted by Soul Jazz Records with a live set from 10-piece reggae orchestra Top Cats featuring Natty Bo, in celebration of the reggae documentary Legacy in the Dust (dir: Winston Whitter). Friday afternoon saw DJ Billy Jam transmit a live radio show for New Jersey's (New York) WFMU, and Sunday afternoon saw local Jersey musicians perform live as part of the Shear Talent, as presented by BBC Jersey Introducing.
*Branchage Festival Preview: Amiina On The Animation of Lotte Reiniger Luke Turner, The Quietus, 29 September 2009 Animagica was a Branchage live music commission at the Opera House for Iceland's Amiina to perform a new live score to the fairytale animations of Lotte Reiniger (Cinderella , Sleeping Beauty ). Support came from Paper Cinema, with live music by The Cabinet of Living Cinema.
Brighton's British Sea Power performed their live score to the classic 1934 documentary Man of Aran (dir: Robert Flaherty), as commissioned by the British Film Institute, which took place in the Opera House. British Sea Power For Jersey Event Clash Magazine British Sea Power wrote about Branchage in a 'takeover' of the online music magazine Drowned in Sound... their guitarist Noble, stated that Branchage was "Perhaps the most innovative and exciting new film festival in Europe.British Sea Power Takeover Branchage Film Festival October 2010
The War Tunnels saw a unique live score to the new British documentary Isolation, an impressionistic portrait of soldiers returning from conflict, as composed and performed by the film's directors Luke Seamore and Joseph Bull alongside guest musicians.
The Battle of Branchage was a spectacular 3D mapping projection onto the side of Mount Orguiel Castle, commissioned by Branchage, with ground-breaking projection mapping by Seeper using the latest technology and sound by Flat-e. Vimeo footage of the event went globally viral following the Festival, and was reported in Wired magazine as a significant event on the technology circuit.<ref>[https://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2010/01/start/gorey-castle-comes-under-digital-attack Gorey Castle comes under 'digital attack'''] Charlie Burton, Wired Magazine, November 2009</ref>
Site-Eye were commissioned to create a 3D time-lapse film at various Jersey locations, which were screened as an installation in the Branchage box office.
The Branchage Drive-In screened classic films Some Like It Hot and The Wizard of Oz from 35mm film, in Peoples Park.
Kim Longinotto's powerful documentary Rough Aunties, about the Bobbi Bear charity for abused children in South Africa, was accompanied by members of the charity, some of whom hadn't been outside of South Africa. A charity raffle to raise money for Bobbi Bear included a Ferrari sports car donated by a Jersey resident.
Magical site-specific screenings included Gideon Koppel's observational film Sleep Furiously about a small Welsh farming community, screened in a barn at the Classic Herd Farm, the relaxing monastery documentary Into Great Silence, screened in the quiet confines of the St Helier Town Church, and Irish children's fairytale animation The Secret of Kells, in Mount Orgiel Castle.
Branchage engaged with a younger Jersey audience by staging a series of events at the Live Lounge club, including screenings of documentaries about Soulwax, the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival, grime artist Dizzee Rascal, and a live indie music night hosted by The Asylum with local bands performing. And for even younger audiences, Aardman animator Richard Golesowski attended to present his latest Shaun The Sheep short films for schools and young children.
Classic British feature if.... (dir: Lindsay Anderson, 1968) was presented in the chapel of Victoria College, followed by a Q&A with David Wood discussing his experiences as young actor on the film, playing opposite Malcolm MacDowell.Branchage Festival Preview – School's Out: What Shaped Lindsay Anderson's If.... Robert Barry, The Quietus, 17 September 2009
British filmmaker and artist Andrew Kotting attended Branchage to screen a selection of his work and to hold a Town Hall meeting to launch the Jersey Jape project, to use Jersey residents home movie footage in a future film project. Unfortunately, funding wasn't secured to continue the project into the following year, and it was abandoned.
British filmmakers The Blaine Brothers returned to Branchage to head up the Vauxhall 48 Hour Road Movie Challenge, for local Jersey filmmakers to make a film in 2 days, to screen at the Branchage Drive-In before the main features.
Other documentaries screened at the Festival included Burma VJ, Carmen Meets Borat, End of the Line, Grizzly Man, Only When I Dance, The Posters Came From The Walls,*Jeremy Deller On Depeche Mode: The Posters Came From The Walls Maddy Sparham, The Quietus, 30 September 2009 and Sounds Like Teen Spirit. Other feature films screened included Fish Tank, Le Donk and Unrelated; many of the films were accompanied by Q&As with directors and producers. There were guest short film programmes from London Short Film Festival, Peccadillo Pictures, the UK Film Council, Rushes Soho Shorts, Sheffield Doc/Fest, and an animation retrospective by Max Hattler.
There was a series of industry events hosted by BAFTA, 4Docs, Shooting People, and a journalist mentoring scheme hosted by The Quietus.The Quietus Blog From The Branchage International Film Festival The Quietus
The festival £2000 Cutting Hedge short film award went to Rowland Jobson for his film Girl Like Me. The jury consisted of Ed Fletcher (Soda Pictures), Claire Cook (BBC Film Network), and Kobi Prempeh (Future Films).