The Iris Prize opens for submissions

The organisers are keen to continue to share LGBT+ stories from all over the world and closer to home, with the introduction of community and education awards at main festival.

The festival presents 9 awards:

• Iris Prize – the largest LGBT+ short film prize in the world supported by The Michael Bishop Foundation
• Iris Prize Best British Short Supported by Film4
• Iris Prize Best Feature sponsored by Bad Wolf
• Best Performance in a Female Role sponsored by Diva Magazine
• Best Performance in a Male Role sponsored by Attitude Magazine
• Youth Jury Award sponsored by TBC
• Community Award - £250 to enable the winning community group to make more films
• Education Award - £250 to enable the winning education/youth group to make more films
• Micro Short Award - £100 to enable the filmmaker to make more films

Andrew Pierce, Festival Chair commented: “Diversity has been at the heart of Iris from the beginning. Thanks primarily to the relationships we have with 30 partner festivals located in 20 countries we have always enjoyed seeing diversity represented on our screens.

Diversity across the board is taking a little longer. However, I’ve been encouraged by the improved gender balance and over the past three years we have seen women directors taking the main prize. We have also seen a steady increase in the number of trans stories included in the festival programme. I’m hoping in 2021 and from this point in time we will also see an increase in films made by Trans filmmakers.”

Community and Education Awards

The 2021 festival will see the inclusion of the fourth Iris Community and Education Awards, and for the first time they will be presented during the main festival in Cardiff.

Berwyn Rowlands, Festival Director commented: “We have a popular outreach programme at Iris working with community and education groups across Wales and the rest of the UK. Using film to further understanding and tolerance of LGBT+ issues we have been successful in introducing elements of the main festival into our outreach work. It was therefore only natural that we would bring the celebration of community and education awards into the main festival. Who knows, the future community and education winner could be an Iris Prize winner of the future.”

“We can now look back at 2020 as the year Iris came of age – when she stood tall and stepped out into the world, stronger and more determined. We are going to build on the success of 2020, and over the next few months we are looking forward to sharing more exciting news about our work and how Iris is going to be continue to share LGBT+ stories to a growing audience.”