The Iris Prize Film festival is an annual event that is returning to Cardiff later this year. Hosted in the Welsh capital, the festival offers one lucky filmmaker from around the world to win £30,000 to put towards their next film. 

With hundreds of applicants received every year, the vetting process narrows down to a total of 36 entrants that will be screened during the festivals running between Tuesday 8 October and Sunday 13 October 2024. Going into its 18th year, Iris attracts more than 11,000 submissions from around the world - including from many European nations. With an online audience of about 84,000 people tuning in, Iris is a chance for filmmakers to make a lasting impression on the world of film.

In 2008, Tim Kleinert from Germany won with his film ‘Cowboy’; in 2010 Magnus Mork from Norway took the win with the film ‘The Samaritan’; in 2017 Mikael Bundsen from Sweden won with ‘Mother Knows Best’; and in 2020 Victoria Warmerdam from the Netherlands took home the prize with her film ‘Short Calf Muscle’ (Korte Kuitspier).

With only four of the 17 winners coming from Europe, Settled spoke with Iris’ Company Manager, Grant Vidgen, to learn more about the festival and his hopes to see more European films being submitted for judging.

“Iris was started in the first place because our founders were looking for a new project to take on board having been made redundant from previous roles! And amongst a range of things they were looking at the idea of running a film festival was quite exciting!” Grant explained.

“Iris cared about attempting to be different from other festivals, by focusing on short films promoting LGBTQ+ stories.”

Across the world, Iris has a range of partner organisations that send in selected films that they believe stand a chance amongst the line up. With eight partner organisations across Europe, there are consistently great films representing LGBTQ+ European culture.

“We have had some winners from Europe and those winners are normally the ones that continue to stick in people’s minds,” Grant added.

“The second European film to win the Iris Prize was a film called ‘Samaritan’ by a filmmaker called Magnus Mork. That is just a fantastically tailored short story. You see a slice of life from an older man who befriends and houses an immigrant, and their developing relationship.”

Whilst most winners of the Iris Prize have come from the US and Australia, Grant is hopeful that more winners will emerge, despite there already being partner festivals across Europe.

“Currently, we have a network of 25 LGBTQ+ film festivals around the world, of which eight are in the EU. Each partner festival nominates a film directly to the shortlist of this international competition. So in a sense, they are filtering and searching for content which they feel stands a chance,” Grant said. 

“We’re heading into the 18th festival this year and we’ve had four European winners to date. So that’s not too bad. There are more EU films out there, but I think the challenge might be that Iris is perceived primarily as an Anglophone organisation.

“Whilst we are getting submissions directly from places like Spain and Scandinavia, maybe we need to do some work to demonstrate that we are open and keen to receive material in other languages, and that there are audiences here for those films.” Settled Culture is of course very happy to help promote European culture in Wales and the wider UK!

Iris is set to return to Cardiff in October 2024, welcoming people to the city with a host of new LGBTQ+ short films that are primed to entertain and inform audiences about queer communities all around the world. More information about Iris can be found here.

 

The Iris Prize is one of 14 prizes in the annual festival:

  • Iris Prize - the largest LGBTQ+ short film prize in the world, supported by The Michael Bishop Foundation
  • Iris Prize Best BritishShort - sponsored by Film4 and Pinewood Studios
  • Iris Prize Best British Performance in a Female Role - sponsored by Out & Proud
  • Iris Prize Best British Performance in a Male Role - sponsored by Out & Proud
  • Iris Prize Best British Performance Beyond the Binary - sponsored by Out & Proud
  • 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
  • Best Performance Beyond the Binary in a feature film - sponsored by Peccadillo Pictures
  • Youth Jury Award - sponsored by Cardiff University
  • Community Award - sponsored by Mark Williams in memory of Rose Taylor
  • Education Award - sponsored by Mark Williams in memory of Rose Taylor
  • Micro Short Award - sponsored by Mark Williams in memory of Rose Taylor
  • Iris Prize Co-op Audience Award