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Iris Prize Documentary Film Fund Shortlist 2022

Organisers of Iris Prize LGBT+ Film Festival have announced details of the five shortlisted projects through to the final stage to be the first film commissioned by the new Iris Prize Documentary Film Finance Fund.

The Film Fund is sponsored by FROOT and Aberystwyth University who have committed to invest £20,000 in the final film. The purpose of the fund is to support queer British documentary filmmakers – with a particular emphasis on those from underrepresented groups.

The five shortlisted films are:

Cherish Oteka
The Urban Wolf
Creative documentary that follows a Black and queer person as they challenge society's and their family's conditional tolerance of them.

Shanshan Chen
A Chinese Love Story (working title)
Qiuyan, a Chinese LGBT+ activist in London, fights David’s battle against the goliath of bureaucracy to bring her girlfriend Bling from China while trying to reconcile with her estranged family.

Tin Vlainić and Brian Mullin
The Cashmere Kids
Long before Queer Eye, the ‘Cashmere Kids’ were a carefree cleaning company run by gay men in the 1970s, redoing London’s finest interiors whilst improvising new lives of sexual liberation.

Somina 'Mena' Fombo
Some Girls Hate Dresses!
A nostalgic look into the black British tomboys from yesteryear told through the lens of queer black women who wore the label with pride throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s.

Jay Bedwani
Sibling
A character led observational documentary following three LGBTQIA+ skate enthusiasts as they navigate male dominated skateparks in the UK.

Angela Clarke, BAFTA-nominated documentary film maker who has been looking after the shortlisting process said: “We were delighted with the number of entries in this our first year, and this final list of five projects is strong and diverse. I’m looking forward to getting to know the film makers and their projects in more detail over the coming weeks.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for British based documentary filmmakers with LGBT+ stories to share. It's a challenging time for the creative industry at the moment, so it's great to be able to be a part of something that will help the filmmakers within the sector to flourish.”

The finalists will be invited to a Summer School in Aberystwyth with support of the Theatre Film and Television Department at Aberystwyth University, and the commissioned documentary will be announced at the end of July / early August.