An ArtHouse Jersey commissioned comedy film Jersey: A Musical Journey by Brighton based comedian Christian Jegard has won Gold for best UK Comedy Short at the London-Worldwide Comedy Short Film Festival.
Originally released as a mini series, the content enjoyed an incredibly positive reception when released via ArtHouse Jersey’s website back in 2021, and saw a spoof style documentary introducing some ‘movers and shakers’ of the Island’s diverse music scene.
The original episodes featured a number of characters including heavy metal guitarist ‘Shoulders Pallot’, former St Michael’s prep pupil and rapper ‘Lil’ Langtry’ and 90s dance music legend ‘DJ Puddleduck’. Lil’s grandmother (Granny Langtry) also shares her insights and feelings towards her grandson’s urban sound. These episodes can be watched via ArtHouse Jersey’s website.
The timing of this award comes just ahead of a new release by Christian Jegard, another commission by ArtHouse Jersey. Fort Stories sees the comedian produce a fictional documentary interviewing three former Fort Regent employees – one a fitness guy, one an entertainment guy and one an admin powerhouse. We hear about their time at Fort Regent and find out about their experiences since leaving.
Christian Jegard is a Jersey born comedian, living in Brighton. As recently seen on TV in the BBC New Comedy Awards, Christian has also written and performed on Radio 4 Extra, was runner up Leicester Square Theatre New Comedian of the Year, and won Audience Favourite at this year’s Musical Comedy Awards.
He is currently preparing to take his debut show ‘Mr Showbusiness’ to Edinburgh Festival. He’s been described as “Witty, imaginative and different” by Chortle and “Forensically brilliant” by BBC Radio 4’s Jake Yapp.
About the piece, comedian Christian Jegard said: “‘I am so pleased that ‘Jersey: A Musical Journey’ has been recognised with this award – it was such a fun project to work on. While it resonated with Jersey people for obvious reasons, I think it has connected well with a wider audience because the musician character archetypes are recognisable to most people; everyone has worked with someone who has been in a band at some point. I am so grateful that ArtHouse Jersey commissioned this work, and continues to nurture artists, like myself, from the island. Currently I am working on a new piece for them about Fort Regent which is due out soon!”
Director of ArtHouse Jersey, Tom Dingle, said: “We’re incredibly proud, and not at all surprised, by this accolade. We are always excited to work with Christian. He has a wonderful talent for character creation, observation and timing, conjuring up people who despite their daftness manage to be lovable and memorable. Christian’s skill and dedication to his craft exemplifies the type of artistry that ArtHouse Jersey likes to invest in and is at the heart of what we are all about – supporting artists to develop work that has a direct positive impact on Jersey’s community – in this case through laughter. We can’t wait to share his latest commissioned creation, Fort Stories, a nod to the institution that is Fort Regent, while proffering even more affable fictional folk to take to our hearts.”
