The Community Award, Education Award and Micro Short Award were presented on 9 October
BY YASMIN VINCE, IMAGE BY IRIS PRIZE
The first winners at the Iris Prize LGTBQ+ Film Festival were announced last night (9 October). Three awards were presented – the Community Award, Education Award and Micro Short Award.
The Community Award
Michael Graham won the Community Award for Three Letters | La Mamma Morta. The Welsh film featured HIV campaigner Lisa Power and is the final stage of the Welsh National Opera’s Three Letters programme, designed to tackle HIV stigma in Wales.
Jury member Abbie Vimpany said: “This felt like a reclamation of strength, identity, power and queer joy.”
The Education Award
The Education Award went to Yisong Huang for Forbidden Reverie 宿祭. This 3D CG film highlights struggles, victories and identity journeys experienced by the LGBTQIA community within Generation Z.
The Micro Short Award
The final prize of the day, the Micro Short Award was won by Sophia Vi for Façade. The film, about a trans woman using Shakespeare to understand what it means to be alive, was described as “incredibly powerful” by Vimpany.
Mark Williams, who sponsors these awards in memory of his sister Rose Taylor, said: “LGBTQ+ creativity needs to be supported.” He added that he was sure his sister would be “as amazed as I am at the strong and varied submissions this year”.
The festival continues until 13 October. More information can be found on the Iris Prize website and in the October/November issue of DIVA.
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