Branchage Official Film Festival Trailer 2010 from Branchage Film Festival on Vimeo.

I was mowing the lawn yesterday morning when Xanthe, Queen of Branchage, rang to ask if I’d introduce British Sea Power’s live soundtrack to The Man Of Arran at the Union Chapel in Islington that night. Having previously witnessed the astonishing audio visual bombardment that is this event at last years Branchage Festival I jumped at the chance. The film and the sound track have lost none of their impact, suffering nothing from this time lacking the mildly hallucinogenic affect…

Ooh my head. Bloody Mary’s followed by Guinness is oddly similar to eating a steak with a peppery tomato salsa. Plus a great deal of alcohol. Never the less last night at the London Short Film Festival screening of the Vauxhall Branchage 48hr Challenge films at the Roxy Bar and Screen, I was in the mood for celebrating. Not because the film Chris and I made, “Truth In The Valley” was the ultimate winner of the generous £1,000 prize, because…

Unless you are a complete stranger to this blog (in which case, hallo, have a seat, lovely of you to drop in), you will be well aware that last year my brother and I took part in the Vauxhall Branchage 48hr Filmmaking Challenge. The five films made in the competition have been available to watch online for the past month or so at Mishorts and you have until tomorrow to watch them and vote for them. This deadline is looming…

The joy of a 48hr Film Challenge is seeing what people create when placed under constraint. The most perfect example of this is Michael Pearce and Emma Rozanski’s film Occupied. Emma, Michael and their one actor James all met for the first time at the start of the 48hrs. Their only equipment was Emma’s battered laptop and her digital stills camera. Not, I hasten to add, a fancy digital SLR like Chris and I used in our film but a…

Fittingly for a film festival on an island closer to France than England, our forth confirmed filmmaker was French born Londoner, Gaelle Denis. She drew the genre “Crime” and the title “Morning Mist” and two (and a bit) days later she and her crack international team of experts had made this… Click below to watch Morning Mist… My brother and me first met Gaelle through Cinema Extreme. Her film “After The Rain” was part of the same slate as “Hallo…

Rob Morgan is a filmmaker with a twisted and darkly innovative imagination which goes some small to explain how, when asked to make, in 48hrs, a Western called Overtaken he came up with this… Click below to watch and vote for Overtaken… Rob is someone who’s work I had previously admired from afar. There is photographic proof that we were previously in the same room because we were both part of Screen International’s Stars of Tomorrow an increasingly long time…

When filmmaker Alex Jacob’s arrived in Jersey for the Vauxhal Branchage 48hr Film Challenge he was unlucky enough to draw the genre Fantasy and the unwieldy title Dashes Of Yellow. I thought we had our work cut out with a war movie but if there was genre/title coupling I’d rather not have had this is it… However Alex and his team rose to the challenge, click on the picture to see their response… Chris and I came up with idea…

At last! Your chance to watch and vote for my work! (I know you’ve been wanting to do this for ages…) Keen readers will know that at the start of October, Chris and I lead a fearless guerrilla unit into the hills of Jersey and made a short film called “Truth In The Valley” as part of the Vauxhall Branchage 48hr Filmmaking Challenge. Keener readers and those with their fingers on the pulse will already be aware that all five…

No, for once, I’m not just banging about Branchage (though I’m not saying it’s not) but my last post here about the length of shorts has sparked up this question on the Shooting People Filmmaker’s Bulletin… > Hi What are the 6 top festivels in the opinion of the SP > readers are the ones that REALLY count and what is THE ideal > length for a short? Coould we have some views please? Best > Charlie Salem And in…