The Iris Prize is a great idea. It’s the world’s biggest LGBT short film festival, held every year in Cardiff. And perhaps best of all is the the winner doesn’t just get a pat on the back, they receive funding and help to get a new film made!

This year’s festival runs from October 10th-14th, and today the shortlist has been revealed of the films screening at the event. The US is the most represented country, with 10 filmmakers presenting shorts, closely followed by six from Australia and five from the UK. Venezuela make the final for the first time, joining Canada, Germany, Brazil, Israel, France, Norway, Austria, Ireland, India, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, US and UK.

The stories told include a young boy’s trauma waiting for body hair to grow, a love story which develops thanks to a Polaroid camera, the unexpected comfort in coffee and pie especially when you’re being dumped, and a dramatic one night stand with a serial killer.

Take a look below for a little info on all 31 films that will compete for the chance to make a new short film with the prize valued at £25,000. You can find out more at the Iris Prize website.

A STABLE FOR DISABLE HORSES – When Kanoute (24) decides to move back to Norway his best friend Benny throws him a surprise party. It soon becomes apparent that Benny has a secret that their friendship might not survive but which he has to get off his chest before Kanoute leaves for good.

BATTLEFIELD – The emotional negotiation of a one-night stand between two men bound by habit and idiosyncrasy. A contemporary snapshot of where Aussie gay men are on the issue of single-serve love and their desire for more.

COFFEE & PIE – In this self-proclaimed anti-romantic comedy, yet offbeat love story of sorts, couple June and October are breaking up. Manipulative June feels her moral superiority justifies the breakup. A “confucked” October learns from seasoned waitress Billy-Jean, that revenge is a dish best served with pie. A sweet as pie short to be enjoyed by all.

DADDY ISSUES – A couple on a first date discuss the complexities of procreation. If only their daddy issues were their biggest hurdle.

DAYS OF AWE – Ten days of mercy, introspection and forgiveness.

DEEP END – When Dane’s older brother comes out, he spends the day at the community pool trying to figure out what it means for both of them. As he witnesses the actions of his homophobic peers he must come to a decision–stand up for his brother and become a social outcast, or side with his peers and lose his brother forever.

DIK – A six year old boy brings home a piece of school work that provokes his parents to question his sexual orientation. And their own. Six year old Andrew enjoys soccer, likes drawing and is excited by his developing writing skills. His father, Robert, is proud of his son’s soccer achievements; a little perturbed by his preference for the colour pink and completely freaked by what might be going on with Andrew and his school friend Tim. Rachel – Andrew’s mother, Robert’s wife – is a yoga devotee and considers herself a modern, broad minded woman but discovers her limit when her husband’s simple mistake spells disaster.

EL NIDO VACIO – Monste, a scatterbrained, well-meaning sex therapist, embarks on a mission to reconnect with her angst son after discovering his troubles may stem from the huge “problem” tucked inside his trousers.

FALLEN COMRADE – Julian, a Soldier in the Army, reminisces at the Military burial of Alexander, revealing times in combat, in training, and intimate moments shared with the Soldier; his battle buddy, his lover…

HATCH – Hatch follows two couples and the wrenching decisions they each must make on a wintry Vienna night. Milo and Biljana, illegal immigrants seeking opportunity, must acknowledge that they cannot raise their newborn and hope to achieve their own youthful dreams at the same time. Across town, an older and more stable couple desperately want to welcome a child into their lives.

IT’S CONSUMING ME – I can’t move on, I wish I could. But I’m caught in the thought of what could have been, losing my grip on reality.

JACKPOT – A 14 year old gay boy in 1994 sets off on a quest to retrieve a stash of discarded gay porn and bring it home before anyone finds out. When he runs into trouble with bullies, he has to rely on the help of a mysterious stranger.

MASCARA NEGRA – Gregorio falls in love with a masked-woman during a carnival party. Luisette is a transvestite in search of affection. They spend a night of voluptuous together. In the following day, Gregorio takes Luisette to a charitable soccer game with his friends in which the men play in women’s clothes. She starts to play well and he falls for her during the game.

MY NIGHT WITH ANDREW CUNANAN – In a cross-country murder spree that ended with the killing of fashion icon Gianni Versace, “My Night with Andrew Cunanan” is a docudrama crime thriller based on real life events in San Francisco in 1997 and one young gay drunken man’s encounter with him days before he would begin that spree that would earn him the dubious honor of the youngest serial killer on the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted list. Could one decision made during that encounter have prevented the murder of five men? This cautionary tale invites us to consider whether fate can be changed by exploring ‘What if…?’

OG LEKEN ER GOD – And The Going Is Good is a short film in three chapters about pride, power and stopping while the going is still good. The three chapters (Water, Tent and Bedsit) each let us take part in a short and rather intimate situation in a young girl’s everyday life, where her sense of pride, shame and power is challenged.

OSTIA: LA FINALE NOTTE – A dark story of desire and betrayal that re-explores the events of the night of the brutal slaying of Pasolini, a powerful figure with a relentless need for social change and a profound artist of our century… ultimately undone by his dangerous desire.

POLAROID GIRL – Sofie is a shy and timid aspiring photographer when she meets June, who runs a vintage camera shop. Something clicks, and as the two take off on a photography mission Sofie learns a thing or two about standing up for herself. Kicking ass, taking names, and getting the girl.

PRIDE – On the morning of his annual gay pride party, Stephen is forced to take in his homophobic father who had disowned him over 20 years ago. Now suffering from Alzheimer’s dementia, the father gets a crash course in all things gay from Stephen’s eclectic mix of friends. Seeds of their turbulent relationship come to light as does hope that the two can move past their fears, accept and forgive one another.

PRORA – Prora, on the Baltic Sea. Mysterious, endless. In this deserted former Nazi holiday camp and communist military complex, German and French teenagers Jan and Matthieu embark on an adventure that confronts their identities and puts their friendship at risk.

REALITY CHECK – November 4th, 1995. Two teenage girls night out on the town looking for sex and something to smoke.

REPRISE – Meena struggles in an abusive, same-sex relationship with Sarah, her alcoholic, emotionally manipulative partner of 25 years. When their daughter is accepted to university in Paris, Meena is forced to confront the state of her relationship and her life.

THE ARRIVAL – Michael and John have been married for 2 years and are ready to take the next step into fatherhood. Having failed to adopt a baby, through all the legal routes, Michael discovers a website where pregnant women sell their babies, little knowing that these women are not what they seem.

THE EYES AND THE ICE – A young man faces insecurities about his relationship and what appears to be a human eye frozen in the ice outside his vacation cabin.

THE LAST WALTZ – Paul and Liam are in love. Despite minor problems & age difference, – jealousy, the ex-wife’s homophobic new boyfriend and Liam’s reluctance to join Paul on the dance floor & life is good. But suddenly tragedy strikes and their lives are torn apart. How do you go on when you have lost everything?

THE NIGHT IS YOUNG – Rohit faces one rebuff after another as he tries to convince his married girlfriend to spend the night with him. Deep cruises the streets of the city – more often it’s a miss rather than a hit. Tara, a transgender beauty queen, and her lover are shown the door at a high-end restaurant. As their worlds collide will luck favour them tonight? Raat Baaki! The night is young…

THE WILDING – When juvenile inmate Malcolm is offered a chance at parole, he is torn between his chance for freedom and protecting the one he loves. Juvenile inmate Malcolm is in love with his cellmate Tye, but their relationship is confined within their cell. When Malcolm is offered a shot at parole, his actions inadvertently mark Tye as a target for attacks by other inmates. With the bullying against Tye escalating, Malcolm is torn between his chance for freedom and protecting the one he loves.

THESE EMPTY STREETS – While searching for her missing son Stuart, Susie encounters his crush – Pauly, a wayward traveller. Stuart meanwhile, is plotting his escape from small town melancholy. When all three are reunited, in a compromising situation, Susie is forced to face that her boy has grown up. She must let him go.

WHAT KATY DID – Katy Went describes herself as a ‘lazy trans queer dyke’. Yet, like all labels, this is just one facet of her person. This film reveals the many layers of Katy, as she discovers that getting the go-ahead for the op is not the end of her journey.

WHAT YOU LOOKING AT – A drag queen and a Pakistani girl in a hijab are stuck in a lift…

X-WHY – XWHY is the first film from writer/director/actor Jake Graf. Shot over two years, this film accurately reflects some of the natural changes, both physical and emotional, that a young transman undergoes during transition. XWHY is a groundbreaking look at some of the trials and tribulations that trans people face both pre, and post transition, told in a light hearted, often humorous manner.

YEAH KOWALSKI! – 13-year-old Gabe Kowalski is a late bloomer who goes to great lengths to impress his classmate crush, Shane.

For the last few weeks American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis has been trying to pimp himself out to write the script for a planned movie based on Fifty Shades Of Grey. A couple of days ago, it was revealed he was off the shortlist of possible writers, and so as is Ellis’ penchant he took to Twitter.

However he wasn’t content with just saying he was sad he was no longer in contention for scripting duties, but also decided to tell the world he feels that, ‘Okay. Let’s finalize this. Matt Bomer is totally hot and a very good actor. He is NOT right for [Fifty Shades’] Christian Grey and it [his being gay] complicates the role’. He then added, ‘I don’t care how good an actor you are but being married to another man complicates things for playing CG.’

This has sparked off lots of accusation of Ellis being a self-loathing homophobe, although what Ellis is talking about it is actually more complex than knee-jerk reactions would suggest. What he’s discussing (although often muddily and badly phrased) is whether audiences – and even more than that, risk averse producers – are prepared to accept a gay man in as sexually frank a straight role as Christian Grey.

While people inevitably get bashed on the head for talking about things in the terms Ellis has, it is something that’s more of an issue than we’d perhaps like to think. Yes, in an ideal world, it shouldn’t matter and it is acting – Tom Cruise isn’t really an all-action secret-agent, but audiences are fine pretending he is. However there is actually a genuine question here over whether audiences will accept a gay actor in a very straight role, with part of the problem being that it’s never really been tested in a mainstream film.

I also know personally that some of my friends do find it tough to view actors as anything other than gay, once they know their sexuality, no matter what the role is (one even had the same reaction to Bomer in Magic Mike as Ellis is suggesting, as she felt that despite him playing a straight stripper, ‘He’s so gay’). There is undoubtedly a level of homophobia working there, but the fact is it exists and quite widespread. While it shouldn’t matter, when Hollywood looks at the bottom line, they’re undoubtedly going to go with the safer, straighter choice. It’s not right, but sadly that’s the way it is, and it’s as much a reflection of the truth about how society views gay people as it is about the way Hollywood works.

James Duke Mason (son of Belinda Carlisle) is an actor who to be honest hasn’t really had that many roles, but he’s became well known for being incredibly active for LGBT causes and being one of the few very young actors (he’s just 20) prepared to stand up, say they’re gay and actually use that for a bit of activism (it doesn’t hurt either that he’s quite the hottie). Now he’s teamed up with director Matthew Mishory, whose LGBT-themed film Joshua Tree 1951: A Portrait of James Dean is currently doing the festival rounds (you can watch the trailer here), to put together a political thriller called Disappear Here.

They’re currently looking for funding and have set up a Kickstarter campaign hoping to raise $25,000. The film is described as, ‘Disappear Here is set in the parallel shadow worlds of Hollywood and high-stake national politics, where emotions and loyalty are mere commodities, and where privacy is an outmoded 20th century notion. This moody, stylish thriller asks who sets the price of a lie worth telling — and who pays? Though staged in the present day, the film will echo classical Hollywood film noir of the 1940s, the color palettes of early 80s album covers, and the music from those albums. Disappear Here weaves a tale of blackmail, sexuality, and personal courage. Part murder mystery, part meditation, it is a moral tale for our time.’

There’s a great team behind this one, including Sex Lies & Videotape producer Matthew Mason (who’s also James’ dad), and it’s well worth taking a closer look at to see whether you want to support it over at Kickstarter. You can also find out a bit more by watching the video above.