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As this year's film festival rolls into action, Express has put together a handy guide to help you pick the hits you won't want to miss...
The 13th Parish Film Festival, taking place at the Jersey Arts Centre from 23 to 26 May, aims to showcase the best of independent global and local cinema.
The event, which began five years ago, will showcase international short films, documentaries, and features of various genres, from thought-provoking to funny and thrilling, spanning a range of languages, themes, and cultural backgrounds.
Pictured: The organisers of Jersey’s grassroots film festival revealed their full programme earlier this month.
While work from festivals such as Venice and Sundance gives the event a distinctly international feel, the festival also has an important local focus, giving filmmakers from Jersey the chance to make and showcase their own work.
One of the most innovative events of the festival will be when walls around St Helier are transformed into temporary cinema screens.
The grassroots festival will also feature a virtual reality experience, interviews with figures from the film industry like Hollywood director John Schultz and Jersey filmmaker Rebecca Coley, and a showcase from a DIY filmmaking workshop.
Express has compiled a handy guide to all the events...
Thursday Evening | International Shorts 1 | Jersey Arts Centre | 20:30
The festival is kicking off with a collection of award-winning international short films from countries including Portugal, France, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.
Friday Afternoon | International Shorts 2 | Jersey Arts Centre | 14:00
Islanders can enjoy a selection of youth-driven, experimental, and creative short films at the second international short film showing.
Friday Afternoon | Feature Film - Mountain Onion | Jersey Arts Centre | 16:15
Viewers can celebrate local talent with films from Jersey and from across the water.
Friday Evening | A Wall is a Screen | West’s Centre | 21:15
Walls around St Helier will be transformed into temporary cinema screens in May for one of the most innovative events in this year's 13th Parish Film Festival.
Hamburg-based group A Wall is a Screen are making a return visit to this year's event, offering Islanders the chance to spend an evening at a cinema that moves around town with its audience.
The open-air film walk consists of projecting short films on walls and other urban structures.
There will be roughly eight films in total, so islanders can start and join in at any time...although the route and programme will be a surprise.
Saturday Morning | International Shorts 3 | Jersey Arts Centre | 10:00
From AI to the beauty of 35mm, and ending with a master treatise on therapeutic filmmaking – this final shorts selection explores loss, memory and survival.
Saturday Midday | In Conversation with John Schultz | Jersey Arts Centre | 12:15
A Hollywood director who has worked for studios including Netflix, Paramount, and Disney is set to feature on the programme of the grassroots film festival.
Hollywood director John Schultz will be conversation with 13th Parish Art Director Steve Carter on Saturday 25 May.
Mr Schultz, known for documentaries like 'The Making of Jurassic Park' and feature films like 'Bandwagon', relocated to the island in 2021 and is currently working on a supernatural thriller inspired by Jersey legends.
Saturday Afternoon | Film Workshop | Jersey Arts Centre | 14:00
Islanders can watch and discuss collaborative short films made during a DIY filmmaking workshop in France.
A free one-week filmmaking course was offered earlier this month, courtesy of a team of cinematic professionals from the Off-Courts Trouville Film Festival in France.
Participants were taken through all the steps needed to make their film, allowing them to develop their short films from concept to completion in a fun, supportive and collaborative environment.
Saturday Afternoon | Feature Film - Call Me Mule | Jersey Arts Centre | 16:00
Saturday Evening | Feature Film - Focus on Quebec | Jersey Arts Centre | 18:15
Saturday Evening | Feature Film - The Trouble With Jessica | Jersey Arts Centre | 20:15
Sunday Midday | In Conversation with Jersey Film Maker | Jersey Arts Centre | 12:15
Jersey filmmaker Rebecca Coley, who recently won awards at festivals around the world for her surf documentary, will host a talk on her career and current projects.
Sunday Afternoon | Feature Film - Everybody Wants To Be Loved | Jersey Arts Centre | 14:00
Sunday Afternoon | Celebrating the Carnation Revolution | Jersey Arts Centre | 16:15
The 13th Parish International Film Festival has partnered with the Portuguese Short Film Agency Agencia to bring a series of short films to the Jersey Arts Centre on Sunday that celebrates the 50th anniversary of Portuguese democracy.
The Portuguese programme – entitled 'Celebrating the Carnation Revolution' – will mark half a century since the Carnation Revolution which ended Europe's longest fascist dictatorship and led Portugal to democracy.
The film series will offer an overview of how the Estado Novo regime, the Colonial War, and the 1974 Revolution have been depicted in Portuguese cinema.
It covers themes of resistance, fascism, and the memories and traumas of the colonial war.
The films include a political musical called ‘The Pink Jacket’, and a film about a young housewife called ‘Menina’ set in Lisbon in 1971.
Sunday Evening | Feature Film - We Are Guardians | Jersey Arts Centre | 18:15
Sunday Evening | Closing Feature Film - Omen - and Festival Awards | Jersey Arts Centre | 20:30
Saturday 25 May and Sunday 26 May | VR Exhibition | Jersey Arts Centre |
The success of last year’s virtual reality element – in which VR headsets allowed audiences to be transported to the highest peaks of Mount Everest in a climbing documentary – means that the technology will again return.
Islanders can experience cutting-edge VR films that blend mindfulness, meditation, and interactive storytelling by artist David Lobser.
David Lobser is a mixed-reality artist who crafts immersive therapeutic experiences blending mindfulness, meditation, and psychological flow. He teaches art, animation, and virtual reality at Harvard and New York University.
As an artist-in-residence at NYU’s Future Reality Lab, he created pieces that let multiple users interact in shared virtual spaces.
His recent work focuses on therapeutic uses for VR, such as breath work and ketamine infusion therapy, and on using new AI tools to create music videos, immersive environments, and customised meditations
You can read the full programme at 13thparish.org.je.
Short film series to mark anniversary of Portuguese democracy
Hollywood director stars in local film festival line-up
Outdoor cinema initiative to return for second year
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