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DAY 4 AT IRIS

And the winner is…..Yes yes yes… We’ll get to all that in a moment, but first of all, and with a sore head and bags under his eyes, the Iris Blogger must scan the notes he made yesterday and try to salvage some sense out of them.

Day 4 began with a very much-needed coffee and breakfast at Chapter Arts (let’s just say the night before was a late one), and the session on LGBT families and children on film. The Iris Blogger missed this as he sat in the foyer with his head in his hands saying, “Ow… ow… ow…”, but he’s told it was very entertaining and enlightening.

At midday we were treated to another viewing of last year’s winning short, ‘The Samaritan’, and a Q&A with its director Magnus Mork, who served on this year’s jury. If anything, the film is even better on a second viewing, with beautifully understated performances from its two leads and gorgeous, desaturated cinematography that reminded this blogger of the films of Alejandro González Iñárritu.

Day 4’s brunch was served up at Stefano’s, and all that can be said about that is WOW. The food just didn’t stop coming, and the meatballs in marinara sauce were to die for. I’m actually feeling quite wistful and nostalgic just thinking about them…

Following the brunch, the Iris Blogger was tasked with herding some of the jury back to Chapter Arts for their final deliberations – a brisk walk during which the number of those following him seemed to increase every ten yards. The only thing missing was some dance moves and a bald guy. (Iris In-Joke Alert!)

Unfortunately, it’s become something of a tradition for the Iris Blogger to miss one or more films on Day 4, through a combination of film fatigue and logistics, and this year was no exception. ‘So Hard To Forget’ proved ‘So Hard To See’, but the Iris Blogger was able to catch the stunning ‘My Last Round’, from Chilean director Julio Jorquera Arriagada. Centred on the relationship between middle-aged boxer Octavio and his partner Hugo, to say the film “packed a punch” would be a pun too far, and would justify the Iris Blogger being pelted with rotten eggs. However, as a boxing fan, the IB can say the fight scenes in ‘My Last Round’ are more kinetic and convincing than anything in David O. Russell’s ‘The Fighter’, and it’s refreshing to see an LGBT film tackle the sport without giving it a homoerotic spin. The ending (let’s just say it ain’t a happy one) left many of the audience devastated. A great film.

Sadly, ‘Harvest’ – which came highly recommended by all who’ve seen it – was the second film to suffer from Day 4’s scheduling conflicts. The two hours when it was screening were the Iris Blogger’s only chance to go home, shower, and get changed ready for the awards show.
“Ah, *finally*…” I hear you say. “The awards show!”
Well, yes, but first we saw UK film ‘The Adored’, a tight and claustrophobic thriller about the relationship between an obsessive compulsive photographer and a tormented model. The lead performance by Laura Martin-Simpson was a joy, brilliantly navigating the tightrope between subtle ticks and mannerisms, and full-on Baby-Jane-Hudson-meets-Annie-Wilkes insanity. Thoroughly enjoyable!

Which brings us to the awards show!
(“Thank f**k for that!” I hear you say.)
Yes, as usual our host for the evening was the debonair (and ever-so-slightly tipsy) Hywel James, but this year Iris was able to hand out two new awards, for best actor and best actress, as sponsored by the London Women’s Clinic.

The Best Actor award went (and quite rightly, IMHO) to Murray Bartlett for his role in ‘August’, while Best Actress was nabbed by Allison Lane for her side-splitting turn in ‘Going Down In La-la-Land’. Best Feature, as voted for by the Friends of Iris, was ‘August’, directed by Iris Year 3 winner Eldar Rapaport, while Best UK Short went to Andrew Steggall for ‘The Red Bike’.

If there’d been an award for Best Line Of The Night, it would have gone to juror Sally Griffiths, who said that the jury’s most controversial point of debate had been, “Was it the toe, or the whole foot?” (Iris In-Joke Alert Pt. 2!)
Which brings us to the moment you’ve all been waiting for… The Iris Prize itself! And the winner was…

(Drum roll…)

Daniel Ribeiro’s ‘I Don’t Want To Go Back Alone’!

A very popular choice all round. In fact, this was one year when the Iris Blogger agreed with all the awards given, even if he couldn’t have predicted any of them! He’s putting this down to the incredibly high standard of both shorts and features this year, which left it impossible to guess runaway winners in any of the categories!

After the show we were treated to a set by rising stars Bright Light Bright Light and what seemed to be an endless ocean of wine. The night moved on from the upstairs bar in Cineworld to the bars and clubs of Cardiff, where the Iriseers (yep… still using it) partied on into the wee hours. The Iris Blogger’s memories of all this are a little hazy, but based on the fact that his head feels like a frozen pineapple, he thinks he had a great time.

However, what he can say with absolute certainty is that this year’s has been the best Iris ever. Yes, the off-screen dramas have sometimes matched anything we saw in the films, and the Iris Blogger hopes a certain someone gets well soon, but we’ve seen some amazing films, had a lot of laughs, and made some great new friends. If it’s anywhere near as good as this year’s, Iris 2012 can’t come soon enough!