Cardiff hosts 10th Iris Prize LGBT film festival

Spoilers is a film chasing an award

The 10th annual Iris Prize Festival for LGBT short films has opened in Cardiff.

Thirty-five films will compete for the £30,000 prize during five days of screenings and events in the city.

The festival opened with the screening of specially commissioned films in English and Welsh, while a jury choose the winner of the international selection of short films.

Organiser Berwyn Rowlands said it was important there was a festival that celebrated LGBT films.

"Politically, gay people are in a much better position in the UK than they were 10 years ago," he said.

"We can get married, we can adopt children, we have rights in the workplace.

"But I think we are still relatively invisible, and so there are still many stories about gay existence that don't make it on to mainstream television or cinema."

This year, 17 countries are represented on the Iris Prize shortlist. Their films tackle issues such as growing old and illnesses, while a number of horror films have also been submitted.

While the festival screens films focused on LGBT communities, its research shows about 30% of the audience are heterosexual.

'Surreal world'

Alongside the main prize, a Best of British shortlist of 15 films from across the UK will compete for a prize equivalent to production support worth £20,000 towards their next feature.

The Welsh language film Afiach was shown as part of the festival's opening night. It was commissioned as part of the new Iris Stories strand of films that explore LGBT communities in Wales.

It was written by Bethan Marlow, and tells the story of a lesbian couple affected by a cancer diagnosis.

"I was very keen to write a lesbian story that was not about the fact that they are lesbians, that it went beyond that," she said. "I wanted to set it in a very surreal world, but telling a very true story.

"One of the successes of the Iris Prize Festival is that it goes beyond the LGBT community, and hopefully it's a stepping stone to the rest of the world watching the film. I hope it can cross those boundaries, as it's a universal story that everybody can relate to."

Ms Marlow said mainstream TV programmes and films continued to cast stereotypical characters, though the portrayal of LGBT communities was improving.

"Stereotypes definitely still exist. I think it's better, much better, than it used to be," she said.

"Hopefully we are in a place where we can start challenging that, with stories that are interesting and complex and that go way beyond people's sexuality."

Afiach will be shown on S4C on Saturday 15 October at 22:30 BST.