Iris Prize
The Iris Prize, established in 2007
byThe prize is open to filmmakers from around the world and judged by a panel of international filmmakers and artists. The winner receives the largest prize for a gay and lesbian film in the world—a package valued at £30,000—allowing the winner to make their next film. It is awarded during an annual festival held in Cardiff that presents a programme of screenings including the competing films, several feature films, panel sessions with visiting filmmakers and culminates in a closing night award ceremony.[1]
The Iris Prize has secured the support of lesbian and gay film festivals from around the world, creating a single international platform with the intention of raising the profile of lesbian and gay cinema and helping a new generation of filmmakers achieve success on the international stage. Each of the partner festivals selects one film annually to participate in the Iris Prize. The partner festivals include LGBTQ+film festivals in
The journalist Andrew Pierce became the first chair of the Iris Prize in 2013.[3] Tom Abell, managing director of Peccadillo Pictures succeeded Pierce as chair in 2021.[4]
In 2015 Iris Prize Outreach - the charity set up to challenge discrimination against LGBTQ+ people - was awarded funding from the National Lottery Community Fund to undertake an ambitious programme of community engagement across Wales over three years. A second project was awarded funding in 2020 and is expected to see ten new short films made.[5]
Iris Prize Winners
- 2007 - Pariah by Dee Rees (USA)
- 2008 - Cowboy by Till Kleinert (Germany)
- 2009 - Steam by Eldar Rapaport (USA)
- 2010 - The Samaritan by Magnus Mork (Norway)
- 2011 - I Don't Want to Go Back Alone by Daniel Ribeiro (Brazil)
- 2012 - The Wilding by Grant Scicluna (Australia)
- 2013 - Gorilla by Tim Marshall (Australia)
- 2014 - All God's Creatures by Brendan McDonall (Australia)
- 2015 - Vessels by Arkasha Stevenson (USA)
- 2016 - Balcony by Toby Fell-Holden (UK)
- 2017 - Mother Knows Best by Mikael Bundsen (Sweden)
- 2018 - Three Centimetres by Lara Zeidan (Lebanon/UK)
- 2019 - Black Hat by Sarah Smith (USA)[6]
- 2020 - Short Calf Muscle by Victoria Warmerdam (Netherlands)[7]
- 2021 - Baba by Adam Ali and Sam Arbor (UK)[8]
- 2022 - Tarneit by John Sheedy (Australia)[9]
- 2023 - Scaring Women at Night by Karimah Zakia Issa (Canada)[10]
Best British Short Winners
- 2007 - Private Life by Abbe Robinson
- 2008 - James by Connor Clements
- 2009 - Diana by Aleem Khan
- 2010 - Mosa by Ana Moreno
- 2011 - The Red Bike by Andrew Steggall
- 2012 - A Stable for Disabled Horses by Fabio Youniss
- 2013 - My Mother by Jay Bedwani
- 2014 - Middle Man by Charlie Francis
- 2015 - Closets by Lloyd Eyre-Morgan
- 2016 - Balcony by Toby Fell-Holden
- 2017 - We Love Moses by Dionne Edwards
- 2018 - BEYOND (There's Always a Black Issue, Dear) by Claire Lawrie
- 2019 - My Brother is a Mermaid by Alfie Dale
- 2020 - Better by Michael J Ferns [11]
- 2021 - Baba by Adam Ali and Sam Arbor[8]
- 2022 - Queer Parivaar by Shiva Raichandani[9]
- 2023 - F**ked by Sara Harrak
Iris Prize Best Feature Award Winners
- 2008 - Dream Boy by James Bolton (USA)
- 2009 - Red Woods by David Lewis (USA)
- 2010 - My Friend from Faro by Nana Neul (Germany)
- 2011 - August by Eldar Rapaport (USA)
- 2012 - Sex of Angelsby Xavier Vilaverde (Spain)
- 2013 - Cupcakes (Bananot) by Eytan Fox (Israel)
- 2014 - Boy Meets Girl by Eric Schaeffer (USA)
- 2015 - 4th Man Out by Andrew Nackman (USA)
- 2016 - Real Boy by Shaleece Haas (USA)
- 2017 - Prom King, 2010 by Christopher Schaap (USA)
- 2018 - 1985 by Yen Tan (USA)
- 2019 - And Then We Danced by Levan Akin (Sweden/Georgia)[12]
- 2020 - Cocoon by Leonie Krippendorff (Germany)
- 2021 - Rebel Dykes by Harri Shanahan and Siân A. Williams (UK)[13]
- 2022 - Metamorphosis by Jose Enrique Tiglao (Philippines)[9]
- 2023 - Femme by Sam H Freeman and Ng Choon Ping (UK)[10]
Best Performance in a Male Role (Feature Films)
- 2011 - Murray Bartlett, August
- 2012 - Ohad Knoller, Yossi
- 2013 - Ryan Steele, Five Dances
- 2014 - Michael Welch, Boy Meets Girl
- 2015 - Davide Capone, Darker Than Midnight (Più buio di mezzanotte)
- 2016 - Thom Green, Downriver
- 2017 - Miles Szanto, Teenage Kicks
- 2018 - Félix Maritaud, Sauvage
- 2019 - Henry Golding, Monsoon
- 2020 - Leandro Faria Lelo, Dry Wind (Vento seco)
- 2021 - Udo Kier, Swan Song
- 2022 - Giancarlo Commare, Mascarpone[9]
- 2023 - Hubert Mikowski, Norwegian dream
Best Performance in a Male Role (Best British Shorts)
- 2022 - Gary Fannin, Jim[9]
- 2023 - Emma D'Arcy, The Talent
Best Performance in a Female Role (Feature Films)
- 2011 – Allison Lane, Going Down in LA-LA Land
- 2012 – Kristina Valada-Viars, Molly's Girl
- 2013 – Sabine Wolf , Two Mothers
- 2014 – Kate Trotter, Tru Love
- 2015 – Sigrid ten Napel, Summer (Zomer)
- 2016 – Kerry Fox, Downriver
- 2017 – Fawzia Mirza, Signature Move
- 2018 – Jamie Chung, 1985
- 2019 – Linda Caridi, Mom + Mom
- 2020 - Lena Urzendowsy, Cocoon
- 2021 - Senan Kara, Not Knowing[13]
- 2022 - Lacey Oake, Before I Change My Mind[9]
- 2023 - Amrit Kaur, The Queen of My Dreams
Best Performance in a Female Role (Best British Shorts)
- 2022 - Claudia Jolly, Tommies[9]
- 2023 - Meg Salter, Rosalind Eleazar, F**ked
Best Performance Beyond the Binary
- 2022 - Gold Azeron, Metamorphosis[9]
Youth Jury Award
- 2013 – Straight With You, Daan Bol (Netherlands)
- 2014 – Bombshell, Erin Sanger (USA)
- 2015 – Closets, Lloyd Eyre-Morgan (UK)
- 2016 – Sign, Andrew Keenan-Bolger (USA)
- 2017 – Lily, Graham Cantwell (Ireland)
- 2018 – Mrs McCutcheon, John Sheedy (Australia)
- 2019 – My Brother is a Mermaid, Alfie Dale (UK)
- 2020 - Wings, Jamie Weston (UK)
- 2021 - S.A.M., Neil Ely and Lloyd Eyre Morgan (UK)
- 2022 - Breathe, Harm van der Sanden (Netherlands)[9]
- 2023 - Realness With A Twist, Cass Kaur Virdee (UK)
Diva Box Office Award
- 2019 – Greta, Sparkman Clark (USA)
Co-op Audience Award
- 2020 - Wings by Jamie Weston[14]
- 2021 - Birthday Boy by Leo Lebeau & James Bell
- 2022 - Jim by Tom Young
Community Awards
- 2022, Community Short: Want/Need, Niamh Buckland[9]
- 2022, Education Short: The Bed, Thalia Kent-Egan[9]
- 2022, Micro short: Hold Me Close Please, Max Roberts[9]
- 2023, Community Short: Where's Danny, Amy Pennington
- 2023, Education Short: The Fight in the Dog, Pamela Jikiemi
- 2023, Micro short: Trickle-Down Economics, Sophie Ansell
List of partner festivals
Each of the partner festivals listed below will select one film that will be automatically shortlisted for the Iris Prize.
- Inside Out Film and Video Festival, Toronto (CA)
- Outfest – Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (US)
- Frameline- San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival (US)
- Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (CN)
- Queer Screen – Sydney's Mardi Gras Film Festival (AU)
- NewFest- New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival (US)
- QFest Philadelphia (US)
- ImageOut: The Rochester LGBT Film & Video Festival (US)
- KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival(IN)
- Queer Lisboa - International Queer Film Festival (PT)
- Mezipatra, Prague (CZ)
- Oslo Fusion International Film Festival (NO)
- GAZE, Dublin (IE)
- Cheries, Cheris - Paris (FR)
- Roze Filmdagen, Amsterdam (NL)
- MIX Copenhagen (DK)
- Festival MIX Brasil, São Paulo (BR)
- Hamburg International Queer Film Festival (DE)
- Shanghai Pride Film Festival, Shanghai (CN)
- aGLIFF, Austin (US)
- Melbourne Queer Film Festival (AU)
- Scilia Queer, Palermo (IT)
- TLVFest, Tel-Aviv (IL)
- British Urban Film Festival, London (GB)
References
- ^ "Iris Prize LGBT+ Film Festival". www.bafta.org. 2016-10-17. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
- ^ "5 NEW PARTNERS FOR IRIS' 10th ANNIVERSARY - Iris Prize". Retrieved 2016-07-18.
- ^ "Andrew Pierce Confirmed as Chair | News". www.thefestivalscompany.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-05-23.
- ^ EDITOR (2021-10-22). "Tom Abell announced as new chair of LGBT+ film festival Iris Prize". divamag.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
- ^ "Iris Prize Outreach Limited - Organisation | The National Lottery Community Fund". www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
- ^ "Jewish film wins Welsh LGBT+ film prize". BBC News. 2019-10-13. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
- ^ "Film: Welsh filmmakers shortlisted for Iris Prize". BBC News. 2020-10-10. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
- ^ a b "Iris Prize 2021: Baba wins both £30,000 main prize and Best British award". Attitude.co.uk. 2021-10-10. Retrieved 2022-04-08.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Alastair James, "Tarneit wins £30,000 Iris Prize Award at LGBTQ Film Festival". Attitude, 16 October 2022.
- ^ a b https://irisprize.org/news/2023-iris-prize-winners-announced/
- ^ "IRIS PRIZE ANNOUNCES 2020 WINNERS". Iris Prize. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
- ^ "Film4 - a pivotal moment for Iris Prize | Channel 4". www.channel4.com. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
- ^ a b EDITOR (2021-10-12). "DIVA supports The Iris Prize 2021 in Cardiff, with wins from Rebel Dykes and Senan Kara". divamag.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
- ^ "SCREEN: Wings announced as the winner of the Iris Prize Audience Award". DIVA. 2020-11-10. Retrieved 2020-11-24.