The Iris Prize is an international LGBTQ film prize and festival open to films by, for, about or of interest to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex audiences, and which must have been completed within two years of the prize deadline. It was launched in 2006 by Berwyn Rowlands.

Overview The prize is open to filmmakers from around the world and judged by a panel of international filmmakers and artists. The winner receives a prize package since 2025 valued at £40,000, enabling the winner to make their next film. It is awarded during an annual festival held in Cardiff that presents a programme of screenings including the competing films and several feature films, panel sessions with visiting filmmakers, and a closing night award ceremony.

The Iris Prize has secured the support of lesbian and gay film festivals from around the world, creating an international platform with the intention of raising the profile of lesbian and gay cinema and helping a new generation of filmmakers achieve success on the international stage. Each of the partner festivals selects one film annually to participate in the Iris Prize. The partner festivals include LGBTQ+film festivals in Toronto, Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, Dublin, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Hong Kong, and Rochester, New York.

The journalist Andrew Pierce became the first chair of the Iris Prize in 2013. Tom Abell, managing director of Peccadillo Pictures succeeded Pierce as chair in 2021.

In 2015 Iris Prize Outreach, a charity set up to challenge discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, was awarded funding from the National Lottery Community Fund to undertake an ambitious programme of community engagement across Wales over three years. A second project was awarded funding in 2020 and expected to see ten new short films made.

At the end of 2024 Iris Prize Outreach was awarded a grant of £137,500 to preserve and celebrate the heritage of Iris Prize by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The Adleisiau Iris project will record oral histories and support the digitisation of the Iris archive.

Past winners

Iris Prize Winners 2007 – Pariah by Dee Rees (USA) 2008 – Cowboy by Till Kleinert (Germany) 2009 – Steam by Eldar Rapaport (USA) 2010 – The Samaritan by Magnus Mork (Norway) 2011 – I Don't Want to Go Back Alone by Daniel Ribeiro (Brazil) 2012 – The Wilding by Grant Scicluna (Australia) 2013 – Gorilla by Tim Marshall (Australia) 2014 – All God's Creatures by Brendan McDonall (Australia) 2015 – Vessels by Arkasha Stevenson (USA) 2016 – Balcony by Toby Fell–Holden (UK) 2017 – Mother Knows Best by Mikael Bundsen (Sweden) 2018 – Three Centimetres by Lara Zeidan (Lebanon/UK) 2019 – Black Hat by Sarah Smith (USA) 2020 – Short Calf Muscle by Victoria Warmerdam (Netherlands) 2021 – Baba by Adam Ali and Sam Arbor (UK) 2022 – Tarneit by John Sheedy (Australia)Alastair James, "Tarneit wins £30,000 Iris Prize Award at LGBTQ Film Festival". Attitude, 16 October 2022. 2023 – Scaring Women at Night by Karimah Zakia Issa (Canada) 2024 – Blood Like Water by Dima Hamdan (Palestine)Nick Horton, "Palestinian woman wins £30,000 LGBTQ+ film award". BBC, October 12, 2024. 2025 – One Day This Kid by Alexander Farah (Canada)

Best British Short Winners 2007 – Private Life by Abbe Robinson 2008 – James by Connor Clements 2009 – Diana by Aleem Khan 2010 – Mosa by Ana Moreno 2011 – The Red Bike by Andrew Steggall 2012 – A Stable for Disabled Horses by Fabio Youniss 2013 – My Mother by Jay Bedwani 2014 – Middle Man by Charlie Francis 2015 – Closets by Lloyd Eyre–Morgan 2016 – Balcony by Toby Fell–Holden 2017 – We Love Moses by Dionne Edwards 2018 – BEYOND (There's Always a Black Issue, Dear) by Claire Lawrie 2019 – My Brother is a Mermaid by Alfie Dale 2020 – Better by Michael J Ferns 2021 – Baba by Adam Ali and Sam Arbor 2022 – Queer Parivaar by Shiva Raichandani 2023 – F**ked by Sara Harrak 2024 – Sister Wives by Louisa Connolly–Burnham 2025 – Blackout by Chris Urch

Iris Prize Best Feature Award Winners 2008 – Dream Boy by James Bolton (USA) 2009 – Redwoods by David Lewis (USA) 2010 – My Friend from Faro by Nana Neul (Germany) 2011 – August by Eldar Rapaport (USA) 2012 – Sex of Angels by Xavier Vilaverde (Spain) 2013 – Cupcakes (Bananot) by Eytan Fox (Israel) 2014 – Boy Meets Girl by Eric Schaeffer (USA) 2015 – 4th Man Out by Andrew Nackman (USA) 2016 – Real Boy by Shaleece Haas (USA) 2017 – Prom King, 2010 by Christopher Schaap (USA) 2018 – 1985 by Yen Tan (USA) 2019 – And Then We Danced by Levan Akin (Sweden/Georgia) 2020 – Cocoon by Leonie Krippendorff (Germany) 2021 – Rebel Dykes by Harri Shanahan and Siân A. Williams (UK) 2022 – Metamorphosis by Jose Enrique Tiglao (Philippines) 2023 – Femme by Sam H Freeman and Ng Choon Ping (UK) 2024 – Young Hearts by Anthony Schatteman (Belgium/Netherlands) 2025 – Plainclothes by Carmen Emmi (USA)

Best Performance in a Male Role (Feature Films) 2011 – Murray Bartlett, August 2012 – Ohad Knoller, Yossi 2013 – Ryan Steele, Five Dances 2014 – Michael Welch, Boy Meets Girl 2015 – Davide Capone, Darker Than Midnight (Più buio di mezzanotte) 2016 – Thom Green, Downriver 2017 – Miles Szanto, Teenage Kicks 2018 – Félix Maritaud, Sauvage 2019 – Henry Golding, Monsoon 2020 – Leandro Faria Lelo, Dry Wind (Vento seco) 2021 – Udo Kier, Swan Song 2022 – Giancarlo Commare, Mascarpone 2023 – Hubert Mikowski, Norwegian dream 2024 – Lou Goossens, Young Hearts 2025 – Russell Tovey, Plainclothes

Best Performance in a Male Role (Best British Shorts) 2022 – Gary Fannin, Jim 2023 – Emma D'Arcy, The Talent 2024 – Richard Wilson, G Flat and Dennis Grindel, Fairview Park 2025 – Jay Newton, Sleazy Tiger

Best Performance in a Female Role (Feature Films) 2011 – Allison Lane, Going Down in LA–LA Land 2012 – Kristina Valada–Viars, Molly's Girl 2013 – , 2014 – Kate Trotter, Tru Love 2015 – Sigrid ten Napel, Summer (Zomer) 2016 – Kerry Fox, Downriver 2017 – Fawzia Mirza, Signature Move 2018 – Jamie Chung, 1985 2019 – Linda Caridi, Mom + Mom 2020 – Lena Urzendowsy, Cocoon 2021 – Senan Kara, Not Knowing 2022 – Lacey Oake, Before I Change My Mind 2023 – Amrit Kaur, The Queen of My Dreams 2024 – Lucia Grasso, Vera and the Pleasure of Others 2025 – Ronke Adekoluejo, Dreamers

Best Performance in a Female Role (Best British Shorts) 2022 – Claudia Jolly, Tommies 2023 – Meg Salter, Rosalind Eleazar, F**ked 2024 – Louisa Connolly–Burnham, Sister Wives 2025 – Kat Ronney, Hot Young Geek Seeks Blood–sucking Freak

Best Performance Beyond the Binary (Feature Films) 2022 – Gold Azeron, Metamorphosis 2023 – Bishop Black, Captain Faggotron Saves the Universe 2024 – not awarded 2025 – not awarded

Best Performance Beyond the Binary (Best British Shorts) 2023 – Son of a Tutu, Lemon 2024 – Ashley Goh, Divine Intervention 2025 – Leah Harvey, Solers United

Youth Jury Award 2013 – Straight With You, Daan Bol (Netherlands) 2014 – Bombshell, Erin Sanger (USA) 2015 – Closets, Lloyd Eyre–Morgan (UK) 2016 – Sign, Andrew Keenan–Bolger (USA) 2017 – Lily, Graham Cantwell (Ireland) 2018 – Mrs McCutcheon, John Sheedy (Australia) 2019 – My Brother is a Mermaid, Alfie Dale (UK) 2020 – Wings, Jamie Weston (UK) 2021 – S.A.M., Neil Ely and Lloyd Eyre Morgan (UK) 2022 – Breathe, Harm van der Sanden (Netherlands) 2023 – Realness With A Twist, Cass Kaur Virdee (UK) 2024 – Jia, Vee Shi 2025 – With Love, Lottie, Lily Drummond (Australia)

Diva Box Office Award 2019 – Greta, Sparkman Clark (USA)

Co–op Audience Award 2020 – Wings by Jamie Weston 2021 – Birthday Boy by Leo Lebeau & James Bell 2022 – Jim by Tom Young 2023 – Ted & Noel by Julia Alcamo 2024 – Sister Wives by Louisa Connolly–Burnham 2025 – Two Black Boys in Paradise by Baz Sells

Elders' Jury Award 2025 – While We Still Have Time, Ava Grimshaw–Hall

Community Awards 2022, Community Short: Want/Need, Niamh Buckland 2022, Education Short: The Bed, Thalia Kent–Egan 2022, Micro short: Hold Me Close Please, Max Roberts 2023, Community Short: Where's Danny, Amy Pennington 2023, Education Short: The Fight in the Dog, Pamela Jikiemi 2023, Micro short: Trickle–Down Economics, Sophie Ansell 2024, Community Short: Three Letters | La Mamma Morta, Michael Graham 2024, Education Short: Forbidden Reverie, Yisong Huang 2024, Micro Short: Façade, Sophia Vi 2025, Community Short: Dysgu Hedfan, Juliette Manon 2025, Education Short: After Everything, Olivia Phillips, Connie Beck 2025, Micro Short: The Gardener, Efa Blosse–Mason

List of partner festivals Each of the partner festivals listed below will select one film that will be automatically shortlisted for the Iris Prize.

Inside Out Film and Video Festival, Toronto (CA) Outfest – Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (US) Frameline – San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival (US) Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (CN) Queer Screen – Sydney's Mardi Gras Film Festival (AU) NewFest – New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival (US) QFest Philadelphia (US) ImageOut: The Rochester LGBT Film & Video Festival (US) KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival (IN) Queer Lisboa – International Queer Film Festival (PT) Mezipatra, Prague (CZ) Oslo Fusion International Film Festival (NO) GAZE, Dublin (IE) Cheries, Cheris – Paris (FR) Roze Filmdagen, Amsterdam (NL) MIX Copenhagen (DK) Festival MIX Brasil, São Paulo (BR) Hamburg International Queer Film Festival (DE) Shanghai Pride Film Festival, Shanghai (CN) aGLIFF, Austin (US) Melbourne Queer Film Festival (AU) Scilia Queer, Palermo (IT) TLVFest, Tel–Aviv (IL) British Urban Film Festival, London (GB)

See also

List of LGBT–related awards LGBTQ culture in Cardiff

References

External links Official homepage Iris Prize at Theatre Wales