Branchage
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.
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.
Directors Barbara Hammer and Lizzie Thynne both attended Branchage for screenings of their documentary films about Jersey artists Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore.
Imaginary Summer (dirs: Rebecca Coley / Richard Hall), Jersey's first-ever full length fiction feature film, was premiered at Branchage.
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.
[7] 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.
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.
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,[10] and Sounds Like Teen Spirit.
The third Festival opened for the first time with a fiction film, with a screening of the new Stephen Frears comedy drama Tamara Drewe based on the graphic novel by Posy Simmonds, in the Jersey Opera House, followed by a Q&A with lead actor Roger Allam (who attended on a break from his role on the London stage as Shakespeare's King Lear).
Saturday night saw the now ubiquitous Bordée de Branchage return, featuring a live performance from the 8-piece gypsy Ziveli Orkestra direct from Paris, and a Victorian seaside boardwalk theme.
[13] London based Japanese experimental rock band Bo Ningen were commissioned by Branchage to perform an intense new score to the disturbing Japanese anime Cat Soup (dir: Tatsuo Sato, 2001) Experimental electronica artist Scanner collaborated across generations with Jersey's own Mrs Waddington's magic lantern slide collection, as he performed electronic and digital soundscapes alongside a Victorian lantern show in a drawing room of the 19th century Merchant's House.
[14] Founder members of Welsh indie band Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Euros Childs and Richard James, were commissioned by Branchage to create a new score to the classic Russian animation of Yuri Norstein, including his 1975 masterpiece Hedgehog in the Fog, taking place in St Helier Town Church.
French musician Pevin Kinel performed a solo live score to the harrowing documentary Our Daily Bread, about modern day food production, which took place at the Classic Herd Farm.
London's Little Angel Theatre came to the Jersey Opera House to present The Fabulous Flutterbys puppet show for children, with live music by jazz legend Barb Jungr.
The fourth Festival returned to a documentary for its opening night film, with a screening of the award-winning Asif Kapadia Formula One doc Senna, in the Jersey Opera House, followed by a Q&A with writer Manish Pandey.
Saturday night saw the incredibly popular Bordée de Branchage return with a mythical island theme, featuring a live performance from the 8-piece marching band Perhaps Contraption, alongside Gertie and her Gaiety.
Friday night finally saw Jersey mainstay Bergerac engage with Branchage, with a black tie dinner with lead actor John Nettles in conversation, and further cast members in attendance to talk about the TV show's lasting legacy.
Festival patron and producer of the film Simon Chinn was in attendance for the Q&A, which was followed by a surprise appearance from musician and star of the show Sixto Rodriguez, who had flown from Detroit to begin his UK tour.
