Shorts from around the world have been selected to potentially win the top prize of £30,000
BY LANIA HAMILTON, IMAGE VIA IRIS PRIZE
The Iris Prize, the world’s largest LGBTQIA short film prize, has selected 35 works from 17 nations for its coveted annual competition. The festival will run from the 8-13 October, with its main box office open from the 9 September.
Selected pieces have the chance to win £30,000, a sum made possible by The Michael Bishop Foundation. To date, the grant-giving charity has provided £35 million in funds intended for a range of purposes, from heritage to education.
Cross-cutting narratives frame the 2024 festival: its offerings include films about love across generations, experience and the liminal space between friendship and romance. The Iris Prize Film Director, Berwyn Rowlands, has said: “This year, we are blessed with 35 gorgeous short films that tell a variety of stories that we can directly relate to. At a time when we are seeing more and more LGBTQIA stories on mainstream platforms, the Iris Prize shortlist continues to be an important addition as we share authentic stories that the mainstream can sometimes be accused of ignoring.”
Among the highlights include Dildotectónica, a time-bending 16-minute short which explores sexual imagery across time; it is rooted in the filmmaker’s geographical context, as Inquisition events facilitate modern-day Portuguese intrigue. Similarly, the Chinese-Canadian film Don’t Forget Me follows a couple’s leap from the present to track down the recipient of their grandmother’s secret love letters. This is comparable to Former Best Friend, a piece from Hong Kong which explores the discrete past of a man who returns back to his childhood home, alongside the consequences of reunion with a close childhood friend.
You can learn more here.
It is clear the six-day festival promises a diverse wealth of queer perspectives, born from the intersectional experiences of filmmakers across the globe. This year its home will be Cardiff, where organisers hope to attract 11,000 attendees.
DIVA magazine celebrates 30 years in print in 2024. If you like what we do, then get behind LGBTQIA media and keep us going for another generation. Your support is invaluable.
