Lush Launch

The good ship Branchage 2009 was officially launched on Wednesday evening with a heady cocktail of music, confectionary, drinks, 3D film and, most importantly of all, the announcement of this year’s festival programme!


We took over the Idea Generation gallery space for an evening of all things Branchagey, with foliage in abundance, and managed to create a mini-Jersey in East London for press and industry types to get a feel for the festival. Call us crazy, but we just can’t get enough of greenery.

Being ever-generous hosts, Branchage rustled up some super treats for our guests. We’re talking Hierbas Mojitos (the special Branchage Cocktail designed for us by our friends at Taste of Ibiza), and new-addiction-of-all-Branchagers Jersey Dairy ice cream doled out by the cone-load. Moving away from the consumables, we also had food-for-the-ears Plaster of Paris performing (we.love.her.) and an amazing preview of the 3D films of Jersey that are currently in production by artists Gavin Peacock, Brian McClave and Darren Umney (this of course being food-for-the-eyes).


There was also the little matter of announcing some of the Branchage 2009 programme, but don’t fear, if you weren’t there then you will still get to find out all of the treats in store for this year’s festival through the high-tech wizardry of the internet, as our new website goes live next week sporting all of our programme info.

We’ll blog some links and stuff about this next week… the excitement is just a little too much at the moment and Branchage needs to go and have a lie down.

Happy launch-week to one and all x

A Good Healthy Latitude

Last weekend Team Branchage donned their wellies, packed up their baby wipes and hand sanitizer and headed off to Suffolk to spend a blissful weekend sampling the joys of Latitude Festival.

And which was their Latitude tent of choice? Why, the quite excellent Film & Music Arena of course. 3 days of shorts and features, live music, performance and talks – mmmm, Branchagey bliss.

Branchage’s Head Programmer Philip Ilson was responsible for scheduling some of the Film & Music Arena’s programme (while wearing his London Short Film Festival hat). He lined up some excellent shorts, like Esther May Campbell’s award-winning September, and A Short Film About Freedom by Guy King and Carla Mackinnon – a big Branchage favourite. Also gracing the stage was the ineffable Midnight Expresso, star of Fred Grace’s Tornado of Fame; a spandex-suited tour de force of cabaret rap. There are no words…

Outside the Film & Music Arena, other weekend highlights for the team included Simon Armitage in the poetry tent, Jeffrey Lewis’s late night solo set, the Grace Jones spectacular, French fun with Phoenix and all the general mischief a bright young thing can get up to roaming around the woods for a weekend.


Branchage hearts festivals. Thanks Latitude. x

Branchage 2009 Festival Trailer

What is to follow needs very little introduction… it speaks for itself.

Please put your hands together for the Branchage 2009 Festival Trailer [cheers and woops]…

Branchage Jersey International Film Festival 2009 from Branchage Film Festival on Vimeo.

A cutting hedge trailer for a cutting hedge festival.

Brought to you with love by the Branchage Team x

Trailer Time (already!)

One year ago, a very special lady came into our lives, bringing joy and laughter to Branchagers far and wide. Last weekend, that lady was back on the scene, to star once again in a Branchage Festival Trailer. And boy did she star!


Mrs De La Haye joined a cast of Jersey locals for the filming for the 2009 trailer, and we can now state with absolute certainty that this year’s trailer is going to be an absolute corker.

The director’s keeping the plot very close to his chest, but suffice to say, it stars some familiar Jersey faces, some Branchage hedge-cutting in action, and a yellow, plastic workman’s helmet with ear-protectors attached.



All will be revealed in due course…. The trailer’s Coming Soon to a (computer) screen near you!

Locations, Locations, Locations

Did you feel a heightened sense of excitement and anticipation last week? Want to know why? Team Branchage was in town!

The London Branchage crew hopped over to Jersey last week en masse, and venues were on their mind. The Festival is all about turning Jersey’s most weird and wonderful locations into amazing, atmospheric screening venues, so the Team thought they’d better see every venue on the island in one almighty recce.


We checked out castles, bunkers, indoor pools and outdoor harbours, gardens and farms, a zoo and a racetrack, leisure centres, churches and barns. Oh so many barns.

Now all we have to do is match up the perfect events with the perfect venues and we’ll have an unbelievably cracking festival on our hands. We're so excited it's hard to sleep.

Roll on October 2009!

Branchage love to all x