Andrew Pierce unveils Iris Prize future vision at Ministry of Sound

Lord Palumbo of Southwark (James Palumbo) (pictured above) the founder and Chair of the Ministry of Sound last night (22/03/2017) welcomed guests to “watch films and party nightly” at the iconic venue which has been the heart and soul of London since 1991. In a detailed speech Festival Chair, Andrew Pierce outlined the future vision for the Iris Prize which involved a commitment to continue supporting LGBT film-makers through the Iris Prize and the Best British Prize thanks to the generous support of the Michael Bishop Foundation and Pinewood Studios Group. Andrew also confirmed their commitment to expand activity across the UK. Andrew Pierce (pictured left), Iris Prize Chair, commented: “We want to share Iris with other cities and towns across the UK. Therefore, we will be looking at how we can work with local partners across the UK in Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool and Brighton to name but a few.” “2016 was a significant milestone for Iris as we celebrated our 10^th anniversary. Looking to the future I’m delighted we have confirmed our vision, including a commitment to continue to increase audiences for LGBT films focusing on the 16 to 30 year-olds.” “Nothing would be possible without our growing number of partners and we are very grateful to them all. Ffilm Cymru Wales and the BFI were with us at the start and I’m delighted that they can continue supporting us. Successive Welsh Governments have also been with us on the journey and we hope as we enter the final year of this three-year agreement they will continue to find a way to allow Iris to grow. “Just maintaining activity based on the status quo is going to be quite an achievement - but we would like to do more. And this is where I’m going to ask all of you to think of companies or organisations you might know who would like to support our work? Big or small, every little helps!” “And as we look to the future I’m delighted that our new LGBT+ Media Partners are going to be the amazing Attitude Magazine and Winq, who will help us spread the word. We are looking forward to working with Matt Cain, who’s doing an amazing job in revitalising that most iconic of publications.” Matt Cain (pictured left), Editor-in-Chief, Attitude and Winq, commented: “Attitude and Winq are delighted to be sponsoring the Iris Prize as the official LGBT+ Media Partners. We’ve been impressed with the way Iris has supported LGBT+ film makers over the past 10 years and believe it has an exciting future. Attitude and our sister publication Winq will contribute to this by sharing the latest news about Iris with our readers both in print and online. We hope to encourage even more people to the annual October film festival in Cardiff to “Watch Films, Party Nightly, Repeat”. And we can’t wait to experience it for ourselves!” The Iris Prize Festival is a six-day celebration of LGBT film which takes place from 10 through to the 15 October 2017 in Cardiff, Wales (UK). The full programme will include screenings of the 35 short films competing for the Iris Prize supported by The Michael Bishop Foundation, the 15 short films competing for the Best British Iris Prize sponsored by Pinewood Studios Group, premiere screenings of new feature films, Producers Forum, networking opportunities, education day, parties and the glittering Awards Show. The main festival sponsors are: The Michael Bishop Foundation, Welsh Government, BFI, Ffilm Cymru Wales, Pinewood Studios Group, Cardiff University, Gorilla Group, Cineworld, Pride Cymru, British Council Wales, Orchard, and Bafta Cymru.