Iris 2018 – Opening Night

Actually, that's a touch misleading. There was only one drag queen and one dog, but both shared a stage in an opening night spectacular, hosted by Angharad Mair and Jolene Dover (guess, if you will, which one is the drag queen) which set the tone for the rest of this year's festival. There were short films, including the latest film from Iris Prize winning director Magnus Mork (The Forest), and the Straeon Iris production Arth. There was a music video featuring members of the Iris team (including yours truly) singing Erasure's A Little Respect and a not-entirely-convincing front door through which the evening's guests would miraculously appear. Including the dog, which you can just about make out behind the lectern in the picture above. Sadly, the Iris Blogger missed much of this, as he was scurrying back and forth between Cineworld and the Park Inn for much of it. (See those pop-up's in the picture above? All his handiwork.) What he didn't miss out on was the drinks reception that followed, or the after-party which followed that. Oh, reader. Gone are the days when this blogger could stay out until ???? o'clock in the morning, roll in slightly tipsy, sit down and hammer out a blog post with nary a single typo. And so now he's hunched over his laptop, squinting at the screen and mainlining coffee through an intravenous drip. He was reminded, last night, of his advancing years when one of the Iris team's interns said she hadn't been old enough to vote in the EU Referendum. Indeed, he lost the few remaining hairs on his head and his crows' feet grew extra toes. Does he have the stamina to keep going till Sunday? Will he achieve more than 4 hours' sleep a night before the week is out? What will be the highlights from the first day of short films competing for the Iris Prize 2018? Find out the answers to all these questions and many, many more in the next thrilling installment of the Iris Blog!