Iris On the Move launches for 2023

The Iris Prize LGBT Film Festival is going on the road once more and is probably coming to a town near you.

Iris on the Move sees the best of the Cardiff-based festival reach audiences across the UK, with Belfast being added to the list in 2023.

The tour starts in Bangor, Wales on 1 February and is due to end in Bexhill-on-Sea sometime in March.

Berwyn Rowlands, the Festival Director said: “This year, I am thrilled that we are visiting Belfast for the first time.  It is brilliant that we are adding Northern Ireland to our annual road-trip with Iris.

“I love meeting the people who make the films, and I will be introducing a number of the screenings personally.  Most of the Iris On The Move screenings will include a Q&A, allowing the audience to have direct access to the visiting filmmakers.”

Included in the Best of Iris 2022 programme is the winner of the 2022 Iris Prize, Tarneit, directed by John Sheedy.

The film follows Tyrone who lives with his mother and her boyfriend Pommy, a lowlife drug dealer who despises immigrants and homosexuals. Tyrone’s best friend Clinton, a refugee, lives with his older brother Shaker, who also has similarly firm ideas about race and sex. Despite these obstacles, the boys share a bond, both deaf, both neglected by family, and each dreaming of escaping from the brutal violence that surrounds them.

Other films in the programme are Queer Parivaar, Breathe, Jim, and Tank Fairy.

In a second programme titled New Iris Productions, are three new films made by past winners of the Iris Prize and a community production celebrating LGBTQ+ lives.

The 50-minute program consists of A Beautiful Form To See, I Shall Be Whiter Than Snow, and Cardiff.

The full list of screenings and events can be found here.  

Iris On The Move 2023 will be visiting the following cities and towns:

• Bangor (Pontio) Wednesday, 1 February
• Cardiff (Chapter) Saturday, 4 February
• Manchester (HOME) Saturday, 4 February
• Manchester (HOME) Monday, 6 February
• Bournemouth (Arts University) Tuesday, 7 February
• Bournemouth (Arts University) Wednesday, 8 February
• Swansea (Taliesin Arts Centre), Tuesday, 7 February
• Blackpool (Winter Gardens) Saturday, 11 February
• Cardiff (Pink Portraits, Revisited) Monday 13February
• Cardiff (National Museum) Friday, 17 February
• Plymouth (Arts University) Tuesday, 21 February
• Aberystwyth (Arts Centre) Saturday, 25 February
• Liverpool (FACT at Picturehouse) Monday, 27 February
• Belfast (Queen’s Film Theatre) Tuesday, 28 February
• Newcastle (Tyneside) 7 March
• Bexhill-on-Sea (De La Warr Pavilion) TBC

If you would like your local cinema to get involved, please contact Iris at Adnan@irisprize.org.