The winners of the Community, Education, and Micro-short awards have been revealed
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGES BY IRIS
Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival has announced the first short films to take home awards in the Community, Education, and Micro-short categories.
Celebrating its 20th edition this year, the Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival takes place in Cardiff annually to amplify queer filmmakers and their stories. The three films that won awards in the Iris Prize Community, Education, and Micro-short categories were Uncanny Waters by Ray Malone and Steve Melia, Kiss Me Thru The Phone by Scarlett J. Stribley and Clecs/Gossip by Harri Shanahan.
The shortlisted films in each category were screened on 14 October, followed by the announcement of the winners. Iris Prize festival director, Berwyn Rowlands, said, “At Iris, we want LGBTQ+ stories to reach the widest possible audience – and the brilliant thing is, those stories come in all shapes and sizes.”
Here’s what the jury had to say about the winning short films:
Community Award Winner
Uncanny by Ray Malone and Steve Melia
“We feel this is a defiant, optimistic, and in parts – wonderfully bonkers, joy-filled community project worthy of recognition. There’s a tangible display of intergenerational community inclusion in a group which lets every generation of its 60-year age gap participants have a voice and be seen. There’s a sense of shared ideas, fun, encouragement, empathy and maybe most importantly, anger. Relevant, unapologetic anger at world events, and issues closer to home.”
Education Awards Winner
Kiss Me Thru The Phone by Scarlett J. Stribley
“A very strong individual cinematic voice for me. As soon as the film starts, you are immediately struck by its cinematography, colour, lighting, soundtrack and overall atmosphere. There is a clear immediate sense of ambition and risk in the filmmaking.”
Micro-short Winner
Clecs/Gossip by Harri Shanahan
“This wonderfully cheeky short animation brought together a charming combination of poetry, unique visual style and voice over / sound design to tell a story of two older women in love from the perspective of a younger woman. In just a few minutes, I left like I was taken along for the train ride and captivated by this craftily made short.”
You can find out more about the Iris Prize here: irisprize.org
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