Cardboard cartoons and improv

By Ryan Morrison BBC Jersey

The Paper Cinema presented two live cinema animations at the Opera House

One of the things that makes the Branchage film festival unique and different is the events, the music and the linking of films to quirky venues.

And that is no different this year as the Opera House, The Spiegeltent and Gorey Castle play host to some of the quirkier points of interest.

As well as hosting the opening and closing night gala presentations, the Jersey Opera House presented Animigica.

I wasn't sure what to expect from an event that included glasses of water, 80 year old animations and live cinema using paper and a light.

But it worked.

While hundreds of people were being wowed by the spectacle of Gorey Castle being destroyed and put back together again - a small band were in the Opera House being equally impressed but on a more intimate scale.

Amiina performed alongside two Lottee Reiniger animations

Under the gaze of the venues 10,200 piece chandelier and with the front of the stage as a backdrop, 'The Paper Cinema' brought two short animated films to life - right in front of the audience.

Making use of a table, a lamp, the front of the stage and a cast of hand-drawn marionettes, The Paper Cinema told two classic tales.

The first was Edgar Allan Poe's 'King Pest', an adaptation of this short story about two sailors seeking refuge in a plague town.

The second film was 'The Night Flyer', the story of a hero who goes out in search of the girl of his dreams, involving trains and birds - lots of birds.

This silent animations were brought to life with musical accompaniment from multi-instrumentalist Kieron Maguire who provided a semi-improvised score using guitar and viola.

After this spellbinding performance Jersey's own Gerard le Fevre came on stage armed with his cello and a poster board.

A little bit of audience interaction later, that also involved Kieron Maguire being brought back with his voila to 'improv' some film moments, and we find the 'hidden poster' is of Charlie Chaplin.

Then, after a version of 'Pop Goes the Weasel' involving paper bags, an enthusiastic Gerard Le Fevre and an audience attempting to sing "increasingly operatic", we had the interval.

After returning to our seats after the interval you couldn't help but notice the table and three women in black sat around it.

Lotte Reiniger's Cinderella was shown

On the table was an array of seemingly disconnected objects and instruments - a laptop, small bells, four glasses of clear liquid (vodka apparently), and an array of other things like a glockenspiel, saw and music box.

The three women in black were Amiina, a musical group from Iceland who work closely with the ethereal sounds of Sigur Ros.

The table of objects were the instruments they would use to create what turned out to be an eerie, ethereal and beautiful soundscape of sound to two equally incredible animated films.

Both films were the work of Lottee Reiniger, a German animator who created the silhouetted fairytale versions of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty in the 1920s.

These silent animations, with the help of Amiina's hauntingly wonderful live soundtrack came to life and told two age old tales in a way that both captivates and remains with the viewer.

However, I did find my eyes fighting between watching the trio work instinctively together over saw, bell and glass, between glockenspiel, violin and keyboard and the magic of Reiniger's silhouetted fairytale.

The Branchage film festival continues until Sunday evening when the closing night gala presentation of Moon will see director Duncan Jones introduce and talk about his feature debut.