9th Iris Prize Production to Premiere in Toronto

Organisers of the Iris Prize are delighted to announce that Wild Geese written by Katie Campbell and Kayleigh Llewellyn and directed by Susan Jacobson has been selected for the 2018 Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival. The ninth short film to be produced by the Iris Prize and supported by the Michael Bishop Foundation and Gorilla Post will screen at Inside Out in Toronto, Canada on Tuesday 29 May. Wild Geese tells the story of Amy who catches her husband in the act and accidentally falls down a flight of stairs, waking up with amnesia believing she is 16 and the year is 1999! This is a story of recovery and the redemptive nature of love. Filmed on location in and around Cardiff during the summer of 2017, with a cast including Emma Pierson, Lisa McGrillis and Christian Brassington.

---

Susan Jacobson, director, Wild Geese, commented: “The Iris team gave me a wonderful opportunity, through the Michael Bishop Foundation and with the support of everyone at Iris, to continue my exploration of comedy in a lesbian world. Iris opened-up a creative space where I was able to bring in talented, passionate people, and together we made a film that has one of life’s most important messages at its heart - being true to yourself. Comedy for me is more powerful than drama, if you can get people to laugh, you can slip in a poignant message, a truth under and elevate the audience’s experience. The LGBT+ audience is crying out for funny stories about their own struggles and triumphs, and I am honoured, through the amazing support of Iris, to be able to add my funny to lesbian films.” Andrew Murphy, Director of Programming, Inside Out, commented: “We are thrilled to host the International Premiere of Wild Geese at the Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival. We comb through hundreds of short films annually to thoughtfully curate 14 programs. The selection process is very competitive and we're always aware of the impact programming short films can have on emerging filmmaker's career. Wild Geese was an easy choice for us with it's hilarious yet poignant premise wrapped in that dark British humour we love so much. We look forward to seeing our audience reactions." “Inside Out is one of the founding partner festivals which supported the Iris Prize from the beginning. As a partner festival we nominate annually a Canadian short film to compete for the Iris Prize - which continues to be the world’s largest LGBT+ short film prize at £30,000. I’ve had the pleasure of sitting on the Iris Jury in 2016 and Iris Prize founder Berwyn Rowlands was a jury member for Inside Out back in 2015." "I’m delighted he is returning to Toronto this year and I’ve been told he is looking for some feature film to programme for the Iris Prize Film Festival which takes place in Cardiff, Wales in October. We are very proud of our programme this year. I reckon he will be spoilt for choice! Gweld chi cyn bo hir." Berwyn Rowlands, Iris Prize, Festival Director, commented: “I’m delighted that my return to Inside Out also coincides with the international premiere of Wild Geese. I’m a big fan of the film and can’t wait to see how a Canadian audience responds to the strong British humour. I’m also hoping that programmers from other festivals will consider screening it too, especially when you get to see the audience response.” “Inside Out is one of the most important LGBT+ film festivals in North America and the premiere film event in Canada as far as I’m concerned. Fingers crossed I’ll be returning to Cardiff with some amazing films to share with our audience in October.” See the full Inside Out programme of LGBT+ films