Scrum is a documentary following the Sydney Convicts gay rugby team as they play in the Bingham Cup, named after an Australian rugby player who died in the 9/11 attacks while heroically trying to save the day.
What starts out as a seemingly bog-standard sports documentary develops into something much deeper, as Director Poppy Stockell skilfully uses the stories of individual teammates to illustrate the hypermasculine world of rugby in a way that is interesting to both sports fans and laymen alike. As the feature develops, it’s clear that the players themselves and their shared bonds of team-hood are what make this piece shine.
Standing out among the teammates, both physically and narratively, is Pearce, a tall, broad Irishman whose honesty, warmth and willing vulnerability on camera really lends heart and pathos to the film. Through his stories of having been bullied and never really feeling like he fitted in, the audience is given a valuable and moving insight into the psyches and motivations for many of the teammates, as well as the pervasive and not-always-subtle ways homophobia continues to run rife in the sporting world.
While avoiding a ‘preachy’ feel regarding homophobia in sport, Stockell deftly weaves the subject into her overall narrative via anecdotes from her players, telling stories of everything from overt bullying to more passive, insidious tactics to remove gay players from a ‘straight’ sport. In doing so, and in allowing the players to tell these stories as part of a larger narrative, the struggles faced by gay rugby players are more nuanced and given a stronger emotional weight that, in a more factual and head-on documentary, may have easily been lost.
It’s easy to see why The Iris Prize Festival chose Scrum to be their opening film for 2015: While undeniably a sports documentary, Scrum is also a record of the bond of brotherhood and acceptance that team sports can create. So, whether you’re a fan of the sport of just the men that play it, Scrum is a fascinating insight into a world (and indeed the locker rooms) of men with big thighs and funny-shaped balls.
Reviewer: Scott Flashheart Elliott
In short: a film festival in Cardiff where the world’s most promising up-and-coming queer film-makers compete for up to £30,000 towards their next short film.
But it’s not just that, as the Festival’s tagline “Watch movies. Party nightly. Repeat.” hints:
It’s a chance to network and rub shoulders (or possibly other body parts) with interesting, talented people in the film biz.
It’s a chance to watch funny, clever, heartwarming, and heart-breaking queer cinema from around the world amongst like-minded individuals.
It’s a chance to drink at night and watch movies all day.
(Copyright Naik Media)
More than all of these things, it’s a chance to be a part of something special. Not for nothing does the welcome pack given to everyone on the first day bear the words ‘welcome to the family’: That’s exactly what Iris is. From the moment one arrives at the festival, to be greeted by festival Directors Berwyn and Grant, or one of their small but incredibly hard-working and capeable team, the sense of inclusion and the personal touch is apparent in everything. This isn’t a large, brassy corporate event like some of the more well-known film festivals can be, but instead a home-grown event that’s managed to hold on to that welcoming vibe while growing in membership and stature every year.
Maybe that’s the real prize at Iris: the feeling of being part of a large and constantly-growing creative family, being able to share in conversations and hangovers in equal measure and throughout every minute of the festival, the underlying feeling of love and care that goes into making those five days in Cardiff some of the best of the year.
Or maybe it’s the £30,000. Hard to tell, really. Come to Cardiff in October 2016 and find out for yourself.
Find out more at http://Irisprize.org
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