Organisers say the festival that attracted world-class, award-winning films, filmmakers and musicians to the Island couldn’t survive without financial backing.
The festival was founded in 2008 by filmmaker Xanthe Hamilton to bring film and arts to Jersey. A £50,000 States grant helped it return in 2014 after a two year break with new venues, film premieres and some famous faces including agnés b and the Radiophonic Workshop.
Ms Hamilton said Branchage put Jersey on the map as a cultural destination for adventurous audiences and the Island’s compact size ensured a community spirit was able to flourish. She said it provided opportunities for Island-based artists to perform in unique settings to engaged audiences, often giving them a chance to collaborate with international guests or create new works.
But she said the most challenging element of Branchage was finding a funding model that was not reliant on some government grant subsidy, the absence of which ultimately made the event financially unviable. The States of Jersey’s withdrawal of support eventually led to the festival’s closure.
You can see all the highlights of Branchage here. The site includes a comments section which those behind Branchage hope will start a discussion about cultural events and their impact in the hope that future endeavours of this nature will have a better chance of survival.
