Louise Brealey, Amrit Kaur and Kerry Lacy have all been nominated for their roles
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY JANIS PUGH
The largest LGBTQIA short film prize in the world, the Iris Prize, has announced the 12 actors shortlisted for three performance awards. Among the actors up for this highly coveted accolade are Louise Brealey (Helen in Chuck Chuck Baby), Nimra Bucha and Amrit Kaur (The Queen Of My Dreams), and Kerry Lacy (Juniper in Artist Unknown).
Amrit Kaur, who plays Azra in Fawzia Mirza’s The Queen Of My Dreams, was thrilled to be shortlisted: “Azra gave me the gift of looking into myself and examining the mother, daughter relationship in a way I had never before – and I am indebted to her for that.”
Another fan-favourite nominee, Louise Brealey who plays Helen in Chuck Chuck Baby, was also ecstatic to be a part of such an impressive shortlist. “I am cock-a-hoop that Annabel and I have been nominated for the amazing Iris Prize. It’s a huge vote of confidence in us, in our on-screen connection – which I’m SO proud of – and in Chuck Chuck Baby, shot in 26 days on a frayed shoestring: the little-film-that-could! Thank you so much!”
The final decision rests with the Feature Film Jury which is made up of students from the University of South Wales. All features will be screened at Vue Cinema. Tickets are available at irisprize.org/2023-box-office or in person from 10 -15 October 2023 at the Festival Box Office at Vue Cardiff.
Berwyn Rowlands, Iris Prize Film Festival Director, said: “This shortlist includes an impressive collection of actors at the top of their game. Each feature film has been able to benefit from their performance which confirms the collaborative nature of storytelling on screen.”
“Iris is more widely known for presenting the largest short film prize in the world. But over the years our features programme has been gaining critical attention for diversity and excellence in storytelling. This year is a watershed moment for Iris, we have all 12 features that we wanted, and I’m happy to suggest this is our best programme ever! And the performance nominations confirm this.”
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