Films from Jersey, Europe, North Africa, China and Palestine are just some of what’s on offer this week at a local film festival held in memory of its founder.
Film director Tony Langlois, who died last year, set up the 13th Parish Film Festival in 2019.
This year’s edition of the festival takes place this week at the Jersey Arts Centre, with a special programme to be screened on on Sunday 24 May to honour Tony.
His wife Úna Langlois, who is also director of the 13th Parish Film Festival, said she hoped this would “contribute to Jersey finding a way to honour him, and his legacy to Jersey”.
She said: “Tony was an incredibly creative person. He moved to Cork twenty years ago, but he remained a Jersey man at heart.
“He has been widely recognised since his passing last October, through events that mark his enormous impact on the creative and academic scenes.”
Tony, who lectured in Media and Communication Studies at the University of Limerick, passed away suddenly in October.
His wife explained that it had been an “extremely difficult year”.
“In fact, we wondered: should we put on a festival?” she said.
“Tony was the real driving force and the inspiration. It was his vision, he really established the festival and kept the flag flying here in Jersey.
“He was a very persuasive character and managed to convince people that this was a great thing for Jersey – which I think, and many people think, it has turned out to be.”
This year, the 13th Parish Film Festival will feature a special screening of two of Tony’s films, whilst the jury’s favourite film will be awarded with the inaugural Tony Langlois Prix d’Honneur.
Festival producer Noémie Alexandre said: “What we kept in mind is that he would have wanted us to continue, and he was a driving force behind the festival.
“So we kept going for him, in memory of him, to keep up his legacy.”
The festival, which aims to build up local filmmakers alongside a varied selection of international works, has become a staple of the island’s cultural calendar.
Noémie said that the event has seen a record number of entries for Jersey films this year.
“That’s very important for us because one of the goals of the festival is to encourage creativity and film-making here, and to show that there’s a lot of talent in the island, and that we should be promoting it,” she said.
“It’s really exciting for us this year to have so many Jersey films.”
Úna added that seeing their film on the big screen can be a huge moment: “It gives people huge confidence. The first screening of their film on the big screen at a venue with their friends and their supporters and their family all showing up to say ‘You’re great’.
“Someone can walk away suddenly feeling like a filmmaker. They’ve had their first filmmaker experience – and there’s a little bit of magic to that.”
They are paired with a selection of films from “all over the world”, with films from Palestine, China, Algeria and Morocco as well as across Europe.
A panel event on Thursday with UK and island experts is set to explore how Jersey “could develop more of a film culture”.
WHAT TO WATCH…
For the best international feature films: Juliette in Spring, Saturday 24 May at 20:30, and Everybody Loves Touda, Sunday 25 May at 14:00.
From France and Morocco respectively, these two films show off the very best of their countries’ cinema.
In Juliette in Spring, a young woman returns to her very colourful family for a weekend. Featuring French character actors, it is “hugely enjoyable and a little bit risqué in that French way”, according to Úna.
For a unique experience: A Wall Is A Screen event, Friday 23 May at 21:15.
The walking tour, produced with a Hamburg-based collective, promises to take audiences on a walk around town for a series of open-air screenings projected onto buildings. Wrap up warm.
For current-affairs fans: The International Shorts screenings, Thursday 22 May at 20:00 and Friday 23 May at 14:30.
The screenings feature short films from Palestine that handle the impact of war through “beautiful human stories that anybody can appreciate”, according to Úna.
Other films hail from China and Iran as well as Europe.
For local explorers: The two Jersey short film showcases, Friday 23 May at 17:00 and Sunday 25 May at 16:15.
These films, selected by IndieCork’s Mick Hannigan, range from a Jersey fisherwoman’s journey to a sci-fi epic set on a distant planet.
For music fans: The Extraordinary Miss Flower, Saturday 24 May at 18:15, and Rock Bottom, Sunday 25 May at 20:00.
Both films handle music and tell musicians’ stories in a way that anybody can understand, Úna said.
For (grown-up) animation fans: Memoir of a Snail, Friday 23 May at 19:30; Flow, Saturday 24 May at 16:00; and the closing night film Rock Bottom, Sunday 25 May at 20:00.
These two animated feature films promise emotional and reflective journeys told through intricate art – respectively, a woman looks back on her autobiography, a black cat called Flow departs on an quest with a “ragtag team of animals” fleeing a flood, and a filmmaker looks back at Robert Wyatt’s career.
For extraordinary biographies: I’m Not Everything I Want To Be, Thursday 22 May at 17:00; Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story, Saturday 24 May at 14:00; The Extraordinary Miss Flower, Saturday 24 May at 18:15.
All three of these films tell extraordinary stories – of a Czechoslovak photographer, a great Irish novelist, and how Icelandic singer/songwriter Emilíana Torrini returned to music.
For industry buffs: Screen Jersey panel event, Thursday 22 May at 13:00.
This panel event promises to explore how Jersey can become a film-making island: how does the island support film made here and create a film culture? And does this benefit the island?
Noémie said she hoped audiences would walk away with “a curiosity” for films in and out of the island, for other genres, short films, and independent film.
“And the realisation that there’s a lot of potential in the island in terms of filmmaking,” she added.