The 13 film review challenge

The second Branchage film festival kicks off next weekend from 01-04 October and there are dozens of films and events happening over the four days.

From the opening night gala at the Opera House – Werner Hertzog’s Encounters at the End of the World on Thursday night, through films in unusual places like castles, schools, barns and courts to the closing night gala – Moon on Sunday also at the Opera House.

Over the weekend I will be running from one place to another watching a total of 13 films (well 12 films plus a demonstration of model making) where most will have music and some a Q&A.

Part of the charm of Branchage is that the films are being shown in unusual venues, places where you wouldn’t normally expect to see a film.

So when you take the fact that the film is in an unsual venue, the Q&A and the musical element into account – you’re moving into event territory.

With that in mind I’ve decided to set myself a challenge – write a review of every event I go to – so the review will have to look at the venue, the film, the Q&A and/or the music.

I also want each review to be able to exist as an article on its own and I’m basing this on the basic article structure of a BBC Local page – which is four paragraphs and a minimum of about 300 words.

Actually the minimum is 100 words but that’s far too easy and wouldn’t give me scope to tell the story properly – so I’m setting a goal of 300 to make it a challenge (this article is 375 words to give you an idea of the legnth I’m aiming at).

These are the films I’m seeing and will link each one to the review as it is published.

THURSDAY

Encounters at the End of the World

FRIDAY

Animagica Night (more)
Short Films: London Short Film Festival presents Music & Video
Burma VJ
The First Day Of The Rest Of Your Life

SATURDAY

Shaun The Sheep + Q&A (not a film but live demo of making models for the show)
Across The Pond
Documentary Double-Bill: A World Without Women
The End of the Line
The Yes Men Fix the World

SUNDAY

Unrelated
Sounds Like Teen Spirit
British Sea Power perform live to Man Of Aran
Closing Night Gala: Moon