‘Brilliant, intense’ film wins Cardiff’s Iris Prize
THE winner of the 2017 Iris Prize has been announced as Mother Knows Best by filmmaker Mikael Bundsen.
Cardiff’s international LGBT short film prize, supported by the Michael Bishop Foundation, awards the winner with £30,000, which will allow Bundsen to make a new short film in Wales, becoming the 10th Iris production.
The winners were announced at the Iris Carnival at Cardiff venue Depot on Sunday, marking the culmination of six days of film screenings, talks and forums. The event included a programme of live music, with a special guest appearance by Heather Small.
International jury chair Brian Robinson said: “Mother Knows Best is a brilliantly scripted and intense short film which uses a great economy of shots to tell a powerful and beautifully acted, universal story in which the realities of a young gay man’s different relationships with his parents are played out.”
Special commendations also went to Odd Job Man and The Mess He Made.
The other winners were We Love Moses, directed by Dionne Edwards, which won Best British Short, sponsored by Pinewood Studios.
Best British jury chair Katie White said: “We Love Moses is a vividly realised tale of curiosity, secrecy and regret. One of its most refreshing aspects is the film’s mediation through the eyes of a young black girl, a perspective seldom foregrounded in cinema. Avoiding cliches of childhood innocence and naivete, Edwards works more in the vein of a filmmaker like Catherine Breillat, allowing girlhood to be a space of sexual curiosity and wry observation.”
Also highly commended were Where We Are Now, directed by Lucie Rachel, and Eté directed by Gregory Oke.
Best Feature Film went to Prom King, 2010, directed by Christopher Schaap, while also highly commended was Icelandic horror film Rift, directed by Erlingur Thorrodsen.
The award for Best Performance in a Male Role went to Miles Szanto for Teenage Kicks, and the award for Best Performance in a Female Role went to Fawzia Mirza for Signature Move.
The Iris Prize Youth Award, sponsored by Cardiff University, went to Lily, directed by Graham Cantwell from Ireland. The votes were cast by more than 100 students at the Iris Prize Education Day and over 60 young people at the Pride Cymru Youth Festival.
The award was presented by Youth Council representatives Alex Jones and Eve Limbrick, who said: “Lily was inspirational, and if it’s played in schools and universities it will change behaviours. Winning this award is such an important part of this year’s festival.”
The Iris Prize is an annual six-day celebration of LGBT film in Cardiff. The programme included screenings of 35 international short films competing for the Iris Prize and the 15 Best British Short nominees, as well as feature films, parties, talks, an education day and much more.
The Iris Prize continues to be the only LGBT short film prize in the world which allows the winner to make a new film.