New film about Sappho magazine founder awarded Iris Prize Documentary Film Finance Fund

Emily Sargent has received crucial funding to make a film about the life of Jackie Forster 

BY YASMIN VINCE, IMAGE PROVIDED BY IRIS PRIZE

The Iris Prize LGBTQ+ film festival has announced the third recipient of their Documentary Film Finance Fund will be Emily Sargent. 

Sargent’s film, Roaring Dyke, follows the life of Jackie Forster, an activist and the founder of lesbian magazine Sappho. During the 1970s, Forster and her fellow editors were connecting their readers with doctors willing to perform IVF by donor. 

The Iris Prize, sponsored by OUTflix and Aberystwyth University, has committed to investing £20,000 in the film. Sargent was “thrilled” that the Iris Prize chose this film and described the activist as “a groundbreaking, totally unique LGBT+ rights campaigner whose underground operation helped the first queer women to have children”. 

Philip Webb, the COO of OUTtv, said: “Every year, we are astonished by the incredible entries we receive for the Iris Prize Documentary Fund, which delve into some of the most powerful stories within the LGBTQIA community. This year’s documentary is no different, illustrating the life of the inspirational activist Jackie Forster and her fight for gay rights in the UK.”

Last year’s winner, Ira Putilova, will be showing their film, Bender Defenders, at the Iris Prize Film Festival’s opening night on Tuesday 8 October. The film follows the four members of queer Muay Thai club in London. 

Tickets to the 2024 festival are available to purchase at: irisprize.org/2024-box-office/ 

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