We are happy to confirm that we will be kicking off LGBT History Month in Wales with a one off special event partnered with Pride Cymru. The Event will take place on Monday 1^st Febuary at Cineworld Cardiff on the 4^th Floor at 7PM. Tickets available from TicketSource A selection of short films from the Iris Prize Archive have been chosen by the festival programmers to cover themes surrounding religion, belief and philosophy. The Iris Prize Festival will be celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year and has planned a number of special events to take place throughout the months leading up to the October festival. The films being screened at the event are: What you looking at? Directed by Faryal a British filmmaker who explores what happens when a drag queen and a Pakistani girl wearing a hijab are stuck in a lift. Novena, directed by award winning Irish Filmmaker Anna Rodgers, captures a ground-breaking yet little known event in Catholic Ireland. This short documentary is the only record of an unusual speech made during a Novena mass. Followers, directed by Tim Marshall (Winner of the 2013 Iris Prize) is the 6^th short film produced by the Iris Prize. A lonely elderly woman (played by Welsh actress Valmai Jones) has a vision of Jesus on the shorts of a young African man at her swimming class. Aban + Khorshid, directed by Darwin Serink is an intimate portrait of two lovers, glimpsing into the world in which they met, moments before their execution for being gay, inspired by true events. A Last Farewell, by Swedish director Casper Andreas, is a calm and upsetting portrait of an aging author’s sorrow over the death of his long term partner. “We are incredibly excited to be working with Pride Cymru on this special event as part of LGBT History Month and hope to introduce LGBT content to a wider audience as we are committed to promoting equality and diversity as well as celebrating excellence in storytelling.” Said Berwyn Rowlands, Festival Director. “I believe that the selection of films we have will make people think, cry, laugh, but more importantly it will allow the audience to connect with this content in a more accessible way. For example, ‘Followers’ directed by Tim Marshall, the 6^th short film to be produced by the Iris Prize will also screen as part of the programme and was selected from 8,200 entries to premier at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The film has now played in over 50 festivals worldwide over the past 12 months.” He added Award winning Irish filmmaker and director of ‘Novena’ Anna Rodgers has also been confirmed to take part in the Q+A afterwards, alongside Mark Williams who was recently appointed to lead the new lottery funded Iris in the Community project, who will also be chairing the session. Shazia Awan a passionate campaigner, business woman, feminist, and former Parliamentary candidate,  will also be joining the panel discussion.