Iris Prize Festival submissions open ahead of LGBTQ film fest return in October

Words: Jamie Tabberer; picture: A still from short film Baba, which won two awards last year

Submissions are now open for the 2022 Iris Prize Festival, Cardiff’s home of LGBTQ film.

The festival is looking for LGBTQ short and feature films and has 11 awards to hand out including the internationally coveted £30,000 Iris Prize supported by the Michael Bishop Foundation.

This year’s celebration takes place from the 11-16 October.

Team Baba, who won big at last year’s ceremony. Could this be you in 2022? 

The festival has also confirmed two new performance awards, sponsored by Out & Proud. The awards will be presented to the Best Performance in Female Role and Best Performance in a Male Role.

The winner of the Iris Prize Best British Short sponsored by Film4 and Pinewood Studios will receive an exclusive screening of their film at Pinewood Studios complete with red carpet, and a welcome reception with drinks and canapes sponsored by Pinewood Studios Group.

All films in the Best British 2022 shortlist will be broadcast on Film4 and streamed on their online streaming service, All4.

“Expand our recognition”

Berwyn Rowlands, Festival Director said: “This is always an exciting time of year when we start receiving films. This is what Iris is all about, bringing together and sharing amazing LGBT+ stories on film.

“We have been recognising performance awards for actors in feature films for many years. This year thanks to the sponsorship of Out & Proud I’m thrilled we are able to expand our recognition with two new performance awards in the Best British category. I hope this will encourage more actors to join the directors, producers and writers who attend the festival each October.”

William Rutter, Out & Proud said: “We’re thrilled to be working with the Iris Prize LGBT+ Film Festival for a second year to showcase the amazing cinematic works of the LGBT+ community, and to make Iris even more special.

“Our sponsorship will focus on the contribution made by actors to the world of film. We are pleased to be focusing on British acting talent building on the exposure given to the Best British category by Film4 and Pinewood Studios. We are looking forward to welcoming even more actors to join us in Cardiff this October. We’re honoured to be a part of this special festival.”

The full list of awards and sponsors are:

Short Film Awards

Iris Prize supported by the Michael Bishop Foundation continues to be the largest in the world at £30,000
Iris Prize Best British Short supported by Film4 and Pinewood Studios
Best Performance in Female Role in a British short – £250 cash to the performer, sponsored by Out & Proud
Best Performance in a Male Role in a British short – £250 cash to the performer, sponsored by Out & Proud
Youth Jury Award sponsored by Cardiff University

Feature Film Awards:

Iris Prize Best Feature, sponsored by Bad Wolf
Best Performance in a Female Role in a feature film, sponsored by DIVA Magazine
Best Performance in a Male Role in a feature film, sponsored by Attitude Magazine

Community Awards:

The following awards are sponsored by Mark Williams in memory of Rose Taylor.

Community Award – £250 to enable the community group to make more films
Education Award – £250 to enable the education/youth group to make more films
Micro Short Award – £100 to make more films
Submissions are being processed via Filmfreeway and the link is here: Iris Prize LGBT+ Film Festival – FilmFreeway

The main festival sponsors are: The Michael Bishop Foundation; Creative Wales, a Welsh Government agency that supports the creative sectors in Wales; the BFI awarding funds from The National Lottery; Ffilm Cymru Wales; Film 4; University of South Wales; Cardiff University; Co-op Respect, Bad Wolf; Gorilla Group; Peccadillo Pictures; Pinewood Studios; Attitude Magazine; Diva Magazine; The Ministry; FROOT and Aberystwyth University. The festival also works in partnership with BAFTA Cymru, Pride Cymru and Stonewall Cymru.

For more information, visit irisprize.org.