Although most of the attention goes to full length movies, a lot of the most interesting things happening in the world of gay movies is in the realm of short films (Peccadillo Pictures series of DVDs, Boys On Film, is testament to that – and well worth checking out if you can).Now the Iris Prize Festival, one of the biggest supporters of LGBT short films, has opened the doors for submissions for this year’s 6th annual awards and festival.
Based in Cardiff, The Iris Prize is the world’s largest gay and lesbian short film prize and is open to any short film which is by, for, about or of interest to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex audiences.
Prize founder, Berwyn Rowlands commented “The Iris Prize is the only LGBT short film prize in the world which allows the winner to make a new film. Iris is more than just a trophy that gathers dust or a certificate that yellows on the wall. Iris is what film makers need – funding, support and guidance.
“I’m very proud of our track record in supporting new talent. To date two Iris Productions have been completed, starting with the inaugural winner, US filmmaker Dee Rees and Colonial God’s and Germany’s Till Klienert, with his award winning short Boys Village. We are in post production with Eldar Rapaport from Israel with Little Man and look forward later in 2012 to work with Magnus Mork from Norway on the fourth Iris Production, which as yet is untitled.”
Dee Rees, who won the very first Iris Prize, is currently winning huge amounts of praise for her Sundance prize-winning feature-length debut, Pariah, about the difficult coming out of a black teenage girl.
As well as the main Iris Prize for Best Short, there are also awards for Best UK short and Iris Prize Best Feature Award. Selected films will be shown at the Iris Prize Festival, which takes place October 10th-14th, 2012.
Find more info about submitting your movies here.
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