The Iris Prize LGBT+ film festival is returning to Wales. Hosted in Cardiff, the Iris Prize offers filmmakers the chance for one filmmaker to win a £30,000 prize. Carefully selected through a long vetting process, the final 36 entrants from filmmakers around the world will now be screened in Premiere Cinema in the capital.
The festival comprises a six-day celebration of LGBT+ film which takes place annually. This year marks the 16th year of the festival's running and a massive change to just 1,500 admissions back in the debut year of 2007. Today, the festival attracts more than 11,000 admissions world-wide and an online audience of more than 84,000.
As Wales' capital prepares to host the largest gathering of LGBT+ filmmakers who've made the trip from all over the globe, the 16th Iris Prize's opening night promises to bring the best of local Welsh filmmaking. On the opening night alone set to take place on Tuesday the 11 of October, six short films are set to be played to an eager audience. Even better news, four of the six films were created by women, including work by director Sarah Smith who won the Iris Prize back in 2019.
