Iris Prize announces Documentary Film Fund shortlist
Congrats to those shortlisted!
The Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival has unveiled the five films shortlisted for the Iris Prize Documentary Film Finance Fund.
It is the second time a film will be made from the scheme. The fund is sponsored by FROOT, the UK LGBTQ+ streaming service, and Aberystwyth University. Both have committed to invest £20,000 in total in the final film
The fund was set up to support filmmakers telling LGBTQI+ stories. The films have a particular focus on those from underrepresented groups.
“The final five shortlisted projects are packed with untold stories”
The five shortlisted films are:
Claud Cunningham and Paula Gannon-Lewis – Black Angel: Feel Free To Be
The untold story of how two black lesbians created a ground-breaking club night that shook up Manchester’s white male-dominated gay scene, paving the way for inclusivity in the LGBTQ+ community.
Stacey Greg – Queer Trouble
Tracing unheard queer voices from the Troubles through to today’s youth, what does it mean to be young and queer in the north of Ireland.
Ira Putilova – Bender Defenders
Five queer, non-binary and transgender people from ‘Bender Defenders,’ a queer Muay Thai club in East London talk friendship, love, intimacy, queerness, London and bodies.
Charlotte James and Clementine Schneidermann – Rio
A dreamlike portrait, set against the post-industrial backdrop of the South Wales Valleys, we explore dreams and realities with a 16-year-old young person, as she is about to begin gender affirming hormone therapy.
Damian Kerlin – Memories From The Dance Floor
Memories from the Dance Floor is a documentary celebrating LGBTQ+ venues and unravelling the forgotten history behind queer nightlife across the UK, colourfully told by the community that lived it.
The final five will attend a Summer School in Aberystwyth supported by the university’s Theatre, Film, and Television Studies Department. The winner will be announced in July/August.
“There is a plethora of immensely talented LGBTQ+ doc filmmakers in Britain”
Angela Clarke, a BAFTA-nominated filmmaker said they’d been “thrilled with both the quality and volume of applications.”
She added: “The final five shortlisted projects are packed with untold stories, all of which deserve the opportunity to be brought to life on screen.”
Philip Webb, the COO of FROOT and OUTtv said that the quality and diversity of the projects was “overwhelming.”
He also said it shows “that there is a plethora of immensely talented LGBTQ+ doc filmmakers in Britain.”