Cardiff hosted the world’s largest LGBT film festival last week. The Iris Prize, established in 2007, is a prize for short films by or directed towards an LGBT audience, judged by a panel of film makers and artists.
Opening the festival last Wednesday was the topical Scrum, a film about the 2014 gay rugby world cup. It closed on Sunday with an awards ceremony, where Arkasha Stevenson won the main prize for her film ‘Vessels’. Attracting filmmakers globally, the multiple day festival attracted many followers from outside the LGBT scene, 30% of crowds identifying as straight, according to festival director Berwyn Rowlands. “Primarily, we are a short film prize that celebrates excellence in film making, and many film makers have shown up and been really impressed” he says.
