News
7 Sep 2009
Pre-selection Jury member looks forward to Iris 09.
October brings with it the third Iris Prize Festival, a feast of LGBT films, both short and feature-length. Chapter Arts Centre and Cineworld will show the films between 7th and 10th October. Thirty shorts will compete for the coveted prize of £25,000; the best feature will be awarded £1000, donated by Martin Briggs and the best British short will win a training award of £1000 for its director, donated by the Welsh Screen Academy.
The thirty shorts come from two sources. Fifteen were nominated by partner festivals including, for the first time, Chicago and Melbourne. The remaining fifteen were selected by the pre-jury from the seventy submitted by individuals. The pre-jury took six days to complete this enjoyable task. They were Berwyn Rowlands ( Festivals Company ), James Nee ( Festivals Company ), Lisa Nesbitt ( BAFTA Cymru ) and myself (Philip pictured far left.)
Ten films practically chose themselves, the remaining five were the result of much discussion. For example, were they definitely within the remits of this particular festival? Were some superb scenes sufficent to justify the inclusion of the film as a whole? We ended up with fifteen films worthy to be shown side by side with the festivals' nominees.
I look forward to see some of our choices again: After ( Mark Pariselli, Canada ), three teenage lads fantasize about a senior athlete in their school; In The Closet ( Jody Wheeler, USA ), the unexpected outcome of a meeting between two men; My Name is Love ( David Fardmar, Sweden ), the same situation with a totally different outcome; Diana ( Aleem Khan, UK ), an emotional and touching film about an Indian lad hoping for a sex change; El Abuelo ( Dino Dinco, USA ), the thoughts of a man as he irons his clothes; Shattercane ( Michael Tringe, USA ), a lad in a rural community feels he has to chose between expressing his sexuality and keeping up family traditions; Teddy ( Christopher Banks, New Zealand ), an attempt to rekindle a past relationship on the other side of the world; The Chef's Letter ( Sybil Mair, UK ), a family man lusts after one of his male employees; and The Island ( Trevor Anderson, Canada ), an imaginative, inventive and satirical reaction to some anti-gay hate mail. Trevor Anderson, you may remember, delighted us with two shorts at last year's Iris Festival; Rock Pockets and Dinx.
I was fortunate to get a sneak preview of three of the feature films. The melodramatic Highly Strung ( Je Te Mangerais ) (pictured right) was directed by Sophie Laloy. Lyon is the setting. Two girls share a flat there while one of them studies at the local conservatory with a view to becoming a professional pianist. The other girl's possessive behaviour gives the film a sinister and foreboding atmosphere and the on-screen English title, You Will Be Mine, seems far more apt than the present one. On the positive side, the film has an attractive music track featuring, naturally, lots of piano pieces.
Redwoods, directed by David Lewis, is a lyrical and generally restrained film. Everett ( Brendan Bradley ) isn't particularly happy in his relationship, even though his partner is dependable and faithful. Then along comes Chase ( Matthew Montgomery ), an aspiring novelist who is touring the redwoods country. They embark on a tentative relationship, both happy and sad, and I wouldn't be surprised if this became the favourite festival feature for a large section of the audience. Matthew Montgomery will be here to present the film and has been invited to join the International Jury which will select the best short.
Another very welcome guest will be Pascal Alex-Vincent, the director of Give Me Your Hand ( Donne Moi La Main ). The pre-title sequence uses animation, reflecting the fact that the lead characters are accomplished, presumably amateur, artists. They are twins, hitch-hiking their way to Spain to the funeral of the mother they never knew. Actors Alexandre and Victor Carril give superb portrayals of this taciturn pair and their intense relationship with each other. I cannot imagine any other feature persuading me not to vote for this stunning film.
Philip Wyn Jones.
Freelance editor and reviewer.