Iris Prize Festival programme 2023 goes live

The 17th Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival takes place Tuesday 10 – Sunday 15 October 2023 in Cardiff. This year’s programme includes more than 50 short films, 12 feature films, talks from film industry professionals and the spectacular opening night and glamorous Awards Show – along with an exciting gig held at Cardiff’s newest queer space, Enby’s, in Wharton Street, Cardiff.
 
Guests at this year’s festival include the award-winning Russell T Davies (Queer as Folk, Doctor Who, It’s A Sin), Heartstopper director and son of Cardiff, Euros Lyn, the unstoppable Fawzia Mirza (Kam Kardashian, Brown Girl Problems and The Queen of My Dreams showing at this year’s festival), as well as many filmmakers who are representing their films in competition, in person. Cardiff will be buzzing with talent for Iris Week.

Berwyn Rowlands, Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival Director, said: “There is always some apprehension mixed with the excitement when we go live with the full Iris programme. This year we have a fabulous mix of LGBTQ+ stories to share; our audience are in for a week of emotions as we watch films, talk about films, and much more. 

“2023 feels like a very special year for Iris as we welcome people back to the cinema. Making sure you have a fabulous programme is important if we are going to be successful. It is quite unusual for us to get all the feature films we wanted - but this year we did, and we've ended up with 12 and not the 10 we had originally planned.

“If I was forced to choose one highlight it would have to be Chuck Chuck Baby. The last time I was this excited was after seeing Muriel's Wedding at a festival almost 30 years ago. Directed by Janis Pugh, the film is a feel-good movie set in a chicken factory in north Wales. It will make you cry; it will make you laugh, and it will probably get you dancing in your seat. And if Northern Lights by Renaissance doesn’t re-enter the charts on its release, I will eat my hat!”
 
There are 35 international short films in competition for the £30,000 Iris Prize International Short Film Competition supported by The Michael Bishop Foundation. This year’s shortlist features films from 21 different countries, including four from the UK and one from Ireland. Two of the films are also in the shortlist for Best British Short sponsored by Film4 and Pinewood Studios.  
 
The Iris Prize has 25 partner festivals who nominated 18 of the shortlisted films, with the remainder chosen by a pre-selection jury. You can find out more about the shortlisted films in competition here:

• Iris Prize International Short Film Competition supported by The Michael Bishop Foundation 2023.
• Best British Shorts sponsored by Film4 and Pinewood Studios 2023.

This year, we have 12 fantastic feature films from USA, Germany, Norway, Belgium/France, Israel, UK, Canada, and Austria/Germany. Festival Director favourite Chuck Chuck Baby is directed by north Wales born Janis Pugh, and Our Son, directed by Bill Oliver and starring Welsh actor Luke Evans. 
 
Box Office opens 19 September, but today (4 September) for Iris Members
There are many ways to enjoy Iris, whether you are with us just for an evening, a weekend or the whole festival, and students receive a special discount for all feature and short film screenings. 
 
This is not all, however. From 11 October to 31 October, elements of the festival are also available for the fourth year online. If you live in the UK, you can watch all 35 of the international shorts and 15 Best British shorts when you want and where you want. And if you buy the full online pass, we’ve thrown in a few extras for you including the community film with Lynn Hunter and Rebecca Harries, I Shall Be Whiter than Snow and Cardiff, the outrageous comedy starring the late, great Ruth Madoc, with Richard Elis and Stifyn Parry.