Feature 2021
Van returns to his family in Vietnam, taking with him his Vietnamese-American boyfriend Ian. But with his mother expecting him to marry and raise a family, will he ever find the right time to come out? Screening in partnership with Queer East Film Festival.
Feature 2021
Reunited 20 years after the end of their ill-fated love affair, two women embark on a day-long journey around the charming island of Büyükada to try and lift an old spell while taking a trip down memory lane.
Feature 2021
Set in the hyper-masculine world of teenage water polo, Not Knowing holds a mirror up to what it means to be young and gay in so many places around the world.
Feature 2021
A one-night stand that becomes something more - an unconventional love story between two young men.
Feature 2021
A powerful tale of love and friendship in the Soviet Airforce, set during the Cold War. Based on a true story.
Feature 2021
Dominic has a fetish… for himself. Nothing turns him on more than his reflection. Discovering a deep family secret, he is soon entangled in a web of sex, revenge and redemption!
Feature 2021
Caz returns home to the farming community of Rūrangi, New Zealand, having transitioned in the decade since he left, and seeking to rebuild relationships with friends and his estranged father. Slowly, wounds begin to heal, and old flames rekindle.
Feature 2021
A retired hairdresser (Udo Kier) escapes his nursing home and embarks on an odyssey across town to style a dead woman’s hair before her funeral.
Feature 2021
REBEL DYKES is a rabble-rousing documentary set in 1980s post-punk London. The unheard story of a community of dykes who met doing art, music, politics and sex, and how they went on to change their world.
Best British 2021
An animated love story about a leaf which becomes a boat, and fears come out of the murky waters as sea monsters and storms. Will the Leaf Boat survive the tumultuous waves?
Best British 2021
Two young men form a connection on the swings of their local park.
Best British 2021
Following the death of his beloved step mother and grandmother, disability and LGBT campaigner Paul Davies attempts to write to the father he feels rejected by to find resolution and peace.
Best British 2021
A sexually repressed taxi driver with a seemingly perfect life, quickly falls apart when he relapses into drug addiction and runs amok across London with his young queer lover.
Best British 2021
Living in the tunnels beneath Tripoli a queer Libyan teenager, Britannia, dreams of escape to a better life, but an unexpected discovery forces him to question whether to stay or flee from his homeland and his friends.
Best British 2021
A non-acrimonious, but sudden, divorce wrenches gay, working-class born Emeka out of a decade-long hiatus living the middle-class dream, landing him back in the childhood council house he hoped he'd left behind.
Best British 2021
Why does the word “lesbian” feel toxic to some queer women? “Lesbian.” – a powerful film from poet lisa luxx and director Rosemary Baker – is a call to arms to take the word back.
Best British 2021
Factory Talk is a spoken-word artist film exploring identity, sexuality and masculinity in a modern
day working factory.
Best British 2021
When Alex wakes suddenly from a dream where she’s intimate with her best friend, her whole world is turned upside down.
Best British 2021
Jack is a young boy exploring his own identity when he befriends a recently released ex-convict, Pop.
The pair bond, but Pop's past and his inability to control his emotions threaten to put Jack in danger.
Best British 2021
A transgender boy celebrates his birthday in online games, away from the bullying he faces at an all girls school. A film by an LGBTQ+ crew.
Best British 2021
Standing still gets you nowhere.
Best British 2021
A shy teenage misfit uses drag to find the confidence she needs to show her family who she truly is.
Best British 2021
Inertia is a short drama about Rabia and Maddie, a pupil and teacher who form a friendship under the unlikeliest of circumstances. The story is seen through Rabia’s eyes as she tries to help Maddie come to terms with the devastating loss of the love of her life due to an incredibly rare natural phenomenon.
Best British 2021
Against a backdrop of toxic masculinity and homophobia, two young men secretly express their feelings for each other through ballroom dance.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
Told through the tales of Bobbie Nugent, ’A Big Life’ is a story of lesbians, gangsters, sex workers, travelling sideshows and one of the earlier chapters in Australia’s transgender history. After a brief career as a child actress Nugent was part of the butch and femme scene in the ’50s and ’60s, travelling through Asia performing as the World’s Strongest Woman, and returning to Australia in the 1970s to begin his transition.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
In a train station’s waiting room in the Czech countryside, Czech student Danny and his Spanish boyfriend encounter a pair of locals who do not realise that Danny can understand every word they say, including their sarcastic comments.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
This short but sweet documentary follows transgender teen Gerry-Ottawa, as she talks to family and friends in the Atikamekw First Nation reserve of Manawan. Captured by her film buff brother Jos, the unquestioning acceptance of Gerry for who she is by family and the community is a refreshing glimpse of what is possible.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
Three young black friends from the Heliópolis favela go out, seeking refuge and fun in the Queer nightlife of downtown São Paulo. This vibrant, joyous film, made by a cast and crew of black Queer filmmakers, captures all the excitement of a night on the town.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
Greenwich Village on a hot summer night in 1985. A young man, new to the city, leaves a gay bar with a flamboyant performance artist, but his animated story of Antigone is soon rudely interrupted, and what starts as a hot date soon uncovers deeper layers of race, class, history, and disease. The Hunter is adapted from the 2001 novel In the City of Shy Hunters by Tom Spanbauer.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
Francesca Curtis and Phyllis Papps are many things. Researchers. Writers. Ultra-Feminists. Partners. Fifty years ago they became the first lesbian couple to come out on Australian television, appearing on ABC’s This Day Tonight. Now in the final years of their lives the couple open up about love, loss and political change, solidified inside a fifty year relationship.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
Noor and Layla are breaking up, but is it the end of the road for these two Muslim women… or just the beginning? Structured around the five prayers of Islam, this tale of Queer Muslim love turns the conventional “girl meets girl” story on its head.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
Struggling with writer’s block after the death of a loved one, author Zeke experiences a mid-life sexual awakening with the arrival of a handsome delivery guy who brings him his regular order of sushi.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
The guest finally arrives, and gay couple Rafa and Matheus must deal with the excitement and strangeness the presence of a third man brings to their flat. What each shows or hides from the other reveals a wealth of different emotions.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
For 23-year-old Mít life between two worlds is nothing new, their gender and cultural identities constantly in flux. Though their mother wants them to get a degree and find a husband, Mit is in a relationship with Lara. And as Mit’s grandmother succumbs to dementia, so the sacred altar in her apartment becomes a vital connection to the family’s roots in Vietnam.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
After appearing on TV talent show The Next Star (הַכּוֹכָב הַבָּא) Johnita, a young transgender singer, falls back into her reality. Living with her Orthodox father – while also attending the Pride Parade – she dreams of finding love while the realities of discrimination and hatred are a constant presence in her life.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
In a secluded house in the outskirts of Dar es Salaam, ten young Tanzanians meet to share stories of suppression, violence and harassment, but also of dreams, hopes and their illegal love for one another.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
Jessica is eager to make breakfast for her new girlfriend but little does she know her daughter Robyn has invited someone unexpected...
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
Today is an ordinary day for Kalthoum and her friends. They are sipping cocktails, looking for flings on Internet, waiting desperately for love and enduring, once again, transphobic insults from strangers. But today, they will not let things happen that way. Today, between a cosmo and a chardo, the four transgender friends will imagine their revenge. At least, if they get to agree with one another.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
Drug dealer Dewy becomes guardian angel to a lonely sex worker, Rika, when she interrupts a disturbing situation between her and their mutual client. Dewy soon becomes her driver, taking Rika safely to and from her clients, their partnership evolving into something more intimate, until a traumatic incident puts their relationship to the test.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
Aiden returns to his family home to visit his father, who is suffering from the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Though he came out years earlier, and is accompanied by his husband, the process of coming out and earning his father’s respect must begin again and again.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
This highly personal documentary captures moments in the life of Chinese-American filmmaker Will Zang, at the height of the pandemic. With jobs thin on the ground and the (former) president calling Covid-19 the “China Virus”, he contemplates leaving his life in the US and returning to his family.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
An unspoken romance resurfaces when a high school music teacher meets a former colleague. After years of absence they perform together once more, the music expressing what can’t be said.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
In March 2020, as Belgium went into lockdown, photographer Serena Vittorini found herself sharing a house with Ophelie Masson, shortly after their relationship had begun. The disruption of the pandemic and the difficulties they face in communicating with one another make this an intimate self-portrait of two women thrown together by circumstance.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
In the midst of Melbourne's COVID-19 lockdown, Jamie finds reprieve from the monotony of isolation through their imagination, sensuality and some help from iconic onscreen queer characters. To borrow a description from the film’s own Instagram account, this riotous animation is “Very queer, very Covid & very horny.”
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
A young boy braves the streets of nighttime Manila to meet an anonymous hookup. Thinking one of them is the guy he’s meeting he trails a pack of young hustlers who then draw him into their strange world of death and desire.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
19-year-old rugby player Anthony is on a night out with friends when, in a game of dares, they challenge him to kiss the bar’s new waiter. Determined to win, he does just that, but it’s a kiss that changes everything.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
Uninvited to her partner’s Easter family gathering, Nevena dyes two boiled eggs for the traditional egg fight, and sets off on a journey to see her estranged father.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
Kei, a transgender man, longs for a quiet, “normal” life in rural Japan, but his partner prefers the freedom and openness of life in Tokyo. Their opposing wishes and identities are revealed in the heat of the local hot springs, a place Kei loved as a child.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
A group of young friends make their way to the beach, among them Emilio – or Em – a Transgender girl at the beginning of her journey. Set in the volcanic landscapes of Lanzarote, Before the Eruption is a lyrical meditation on friendship and acceptance.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
Oskar is on the night train, heading home after an interview in Stockholm. With a long night ahead of him, he makes eye contact across the aisle with Ahmad, an exchange of looks expressing mutual desire.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
Tina is a food photographer living in the Cypriot city of Limassol, on its way to becoming the oligarch paradise of the Mediterranean. Overwhelmed by her role as both beneficiary and victim of the city’s transformation, she takes to a boat and drinks herself into a stupor, leading to a chance encounter that may just change her life.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
On a hilltop overlooking the city a man lives alone with his beloved mannequin. When he hears reports that there is a census about to take place, he strives to have him added to the roll.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
A transgender female dancer, Shin-mi, gets a call from the Military Manpower Administration, to attend for the Military Service Examination. Shin-mi, with everything in readiness, takes her steps to the Military Manpower Administration.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
Itzik is a middle-aged Hasidic bookbinder, unmarried and living with his brother’s family. In his online search for bookbinding materials he stumbles across a Craigslist ad offering ‘binding lessons for submissive women’, and he responds to it…
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
Written by British-Syrian writer Lisa Luxx, Lesbian is a poem about the word itself and the decades of toxic connotations it’s acquired. Adapted into a film by Rosemary Baker and featuring a cast of real queer women this is a fierce call to arms to reclaim it.
Lesbian is shortlisted for both the International and Best British prizes.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
Living in the tunnels beneath Tripoli a queer Libyan teenager, Britannia, dreams of escape to a better life, but an unexpected discovery forces him to question whether to stay or flee from his homeland and his friends.
Baba is shortlisted for both the International and Best British prizes.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
Krishna and Alia meet during a dance at the festival of Navratri, and the two women spend the night and early hours walking side by side, sharing stories and moments of intimacy. Krishna feels bound to her hometown Ahmedabad, but Alia is a free spirit who goes from place to place. The Song We Sang was described by the Indian news and media website FirstPost as “a pathbreaking love story”.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
On a dark and rainy night Diego rides across the city to deliver a letter to a lost love. As he passes by a corner a glamorous woman, caught in the dazzle of a disco ball, warns him to be wary of the slippery roads. Paying little heed, Diego tears off, but soon finds himself being cared for by the statuesque Diana.
Iris Prize Shorts 2021
Russian indie band Sansara made this music video as a tribute to Russia’s LGBT+ community, 12 months after the country passed legislation defining marriage solely as the union of man and woman. It’s a wonderful fusion of music and movement and a stirring tale of thwarted love, and though we can take no credit for this, it’s garnered over 1million views on YouTube since being submitted for the Iris Prize!
Talks - 2021
USW ATRiuM Theatre
David Fardmar from Sweden who’s a casting director by day and a film maker the rest of the time is joined by actress Carla Fraser who turned co-producer for award winning Wings and the films director Jamie Weston. Looking after the discussion will be Mathew David Hill who’s been responsible for casting the Iris Prize productions. They discus working with actors. What do we need to know to make it a happy experience, for both sides.
Talks - 2021
Popular Glasgow band HYYTS talk all about music and films. During the session, Adam and Sam discuss what has influenced them and reveal some of their favourite videos. the band view music videos in terms of putting ideas into practise, the role of the band, the role of the director, budgets, the purpose of music videos in 2021. Two of their tracks have been used by the Iris Prize to create the 2021 montages of competing short films. They will be in discussion with Francis Brown from New Sound Wales and Katie White - the Iris Board Member from Scotland.
Talks - 2021
USW ATRiuM Theatre
Tom Abell, CEO of Peccadillo Pictures looks back at the successful distribution of a small British movie. Why was it successful? What can we learn about the decisions made that helped make it a success. Are there lessons to with the design of the marketing? What about the release date? Was there a festivals strategy? How important was social media 10 years ago?
Berwyn Rowlands will be interviewing Tom.
Talks - 2021
CHAPTER ARTS CENTRE
Sandwiched between two screenings of Rebel Dykes we have Rebel Talk!
Directors Siân A. Williams and Harri Shanahan are joined on stage by Producer Siobhan Fahey to discuss everything which is Rebel Dykes.
Talks - 2021
Are film reviewers still relevant in a digital age? What is the role of a film reviewer? Can a good review impact on the commercial success of a film? What advice would you give to somebody who is thinking about being a film reviewer? What are the basic element of a review? What’s your favourite LGBT themed feature film? Can you remember the first LGBT feature film you saw?
Feature 2021
PREMIERE CINEMAS
A retired hairdresser (Udo Kier) escapes his nursing home and embarks on an odyssey across town to style a dead woman’s hair before her funeral.
Feature 2021
CHAPTER ARTS CENTRE
REBEL DYKES is a rabble-rousing documentary set in 1980s post-punk London. The unheard story of a community of dykes who met doing art, music, politics and sex, and how they went on to change their world.
