The jury for the film festival includes Channel 4’s Tim Highsted, radio presenter Edith Bowman, as well as DIVA’s own Roxy Bourdillon
BY SCARLETT COUGHLAN, IMAGE BY IRIS
The LGBTQIA film festival, the Iris Prize, has announced its international jury for this year’s event, which will take place from 8 – 13 October 2024 in Cardiff.
The 2024 Iris Prize – which will be the festival’s eighteenth edition – is a six-day celebration of global stories through the medium of short film. The Welsh festival, which is set to attract over 10,000 attendees, is also home to the largest prize awarded for a short film across the globe.
This year, the festival will be led by former Plaid Cymru leader, Adam Price MS, who will be judging the International Award, as well as Channel 4’s Tim Highsted, who will be heading the panel for the Best British Award. Meanwhile, Channel 4 radio presenter and podcaster Edith Bowman will join the jury for Best British Performance.
Also on the jury for the International Iris Prize Short is DIVA’s own editor-in-chief Roxy Bourdillon, who has been invited to join the panel for yet another year. Alongside her will be Welsh-language TV channel S4C’s Ryan Chappell, former Iris Prize winner (Scaring Women At Night) Karimah Zakia Issa, Delhi-born filmmaker Ila Mehrotra, Welsh parliament member Adam Price, artist Harvey Rabbit, GAZE International LGBTQIA Film Festival’s Greg Thorpe, Chapter Arts Centre’s Claire Vaughan, as well as member of the Steering Committee for Respect – the Co-op’s LGBTQIA colleague network – Nat Wilding.
The winner of the International Iris Prize Short, which is supported by The Michael Bishop Foundation, will receive a hefty £30,000 to create a new LGBTQIA-themed film in the UK. The winner will also be invited to sit on the panel for the festival’s 19th iteration in 2025.
The general sale for the Iris Prize film festival opens on 9 September. In the meantime, you can learn more about this year’s judges at www.irisprize.org.
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