FESTIVAL

WELCOME / CROESO

The Iris Prize continues to be the world’s largest short film prize valued at £25,000 offering a talented film maker the chance to make a new short film. Iris’ enthusiasm for supporting new and emerging talent is only matched by the quality of the work we receive, confirming without doubt that Iris represent’s the best of the best!

Making sure that Iris lives up to people’s expectations has been our priority over the past 12 months and as we embark on our 5th edition we hope to be making some exciting announcements about the future. Who could have predicted in 2007 that Iris would in such a short space of time become such a key player for LGBT film-makers? In its May 2011 issue America’s leading gay fashion and lifestyle magazine OUT identified the Iris Prize Festival as one of six unique film festivals in the world telling its readers that Iris is worth flying for and describing Cardiff as Wales’s increasingly cosmopolitan capital.

We have a number of new developments in 2011. Stonewall Cymru and Iris have offered 8 young people the opportunity to develop their editorial and filming skills interviewing directors and actors for IrisTV. The London Women’s Clinic have with great enthusiasm sponsored our two new public awards for acting and for those of you reading this on the web I hope you enjoy our brand new website, which has been created and sponsored by Creo Interactive.

I am proud to be part of the Iris family which continues to grow each year. I wish my fellow patrons, sponsors, Friends of Iris and our growing and loyal supporters a fantastic festival.

Andrew Pierce
Festival Patron

(Andrew pictured above during The London Women's Clinic Reception at the Park Inn Hotel, Cardiff. 2011)