SHADOWS ON THE WALL | REVIEWS | NEWS | FESTIVAL | AWARDS | Q&A | ABOUT | TALKBACK
shadows festShadows @ Iris

Cardiff's international LGBTQ+ film festival
The world's biggest short film prize, which empowers the winner to make a new film

Iris Prize site 20th Iris Prize Festival
12-18 OCTOBER 2026
in Cardiff, Wales


2 0 2 6   A W A R D S . . .

Iris Prize: MAGID/ZAFAR
Audience Award: tbc
Feature: tbc
British Short: MOLLY
Micro Short: CLECS/GOSSIP
Student Short: MIS-ANGEL
Community Award:
UNCANNY WATERS
Education Award:
KISS ME THRU THE PHONE

2 0 2 6   F I L M S
S H O R T S . . .

A CAPPELLA (Kluczykowski, Pol)
AFTER WHAT HAPPENED AT THE LIBRARY (McCarthy, US)
BETWEEN BREATH & SILENCE (Pott, UK)
BIG BASS (Dickler, US)
BLACK SHAWL (Boichenko, Pol)
BLUEBIRD (Yoncali, UK)
BREAKING WALLS (Bouw, Ned)
CHARLIE IS NOT A BOY (Kurucz, US)
COYOTES (Zagha, Fr)
CRANOGWEN A FI (Izzards, UK)
CUMING OUT (Johnson, US)
EVERY TIME I SEE A COCK I GO FUNNY (Henrahan, UK)
GOD IS GREY (Drake, Ger)
HILLS DON'T DANCE ALONE (Negi, Ind)
THE HOLD (Panton, UK)
HUGGED PEOPLE, HUG PEOPLE (Bossman, UK)
INHERITANCE (Awad, Aus)
THE INHERITANCE (Stewart, US)
KEITH (Fraser, UK)
THE LAST DAY OF BYRON BRAY (Borrelli, US)
LESBIAN DITCH DAY (Cade, US)
LIFE OF KAI (Fisher, UK)
LOVE IS NOT AN EMOTION (Collins, UK)
MAGID/ZAFAR (Hindman, UK)
MAKING IT FIT (Leal, UK)
MEET FRANKIE (Kunis, UK)
MISHAPS IN SPACETIME (Soares, Ger)
MOLLY (Shu, UK)
THE MOTORCYCLE (Giampetruzzi, It)
MY DEAR WATSON (McKee, US)
NONE OF US? (Eysselinck, UK)
NOTICE ME (Leonard, UK)
PAKKA (Elumalai, Ned)
PLEASE MISTRESS (Ramna, UK)



QUEEN LIZZY (McDonagh, Ire)
QUELQU'UN DE SPECIAL (Gervat, Fr)
REQUIREMENTS (Hajny, UK)
SAME TIME NEXT YEAR? (Sheikh, Can)
SEAHORSE (Tabosa, Br)
SHUTTERSPEED (De Maeseneer, Bel)
SO BE IT (Sorgie, US)
SOMETHING IN THE AIR (Barry, Ire)
STRANGER, BROTHER (Hickey, Aus)
THEM THAT'S NOT (Lee, US)
TRY (Bayley, UK)
UNIFORMED (Biurrum, Br)
WEAR I AM (Morton, UK)
WHALE 52: SUITE FOR MAN, BOY AND WHALE (Neiden, US)
WHEN THE PETALS FALL (Tsoi, Chn)
XY (Fleet, US)
YELLOW BUCKET (Brooke, UK)


F E A T U R E S . . .

3670 (Park, Kor)
ADIOS, AMOR (Amado, Mex)
BIG GIRLS DON'T CRY (Schneideman, NZ)
BLACK CHURCH BAY (Jones, UK)
BLUE FILM (Tuttle, US)
THE BOY WITH PINK PANTS (Ferri, It)
CHATLINES (Eyre-Morgan/Ely, UK)
I AM GOING TO MISS YOU (Ribeiro, Br)
LABRADOR: AUTOPSY OF SILENCE (Jean, Can)
LESBIAN LINES (Holmes, Ire)
LITTLE TRAGEDIES (Nolasco, Br)
OUT OF THE WOODS (Bardo, US)
SUNDAY BOYFRIENDS (Ordonez, Mex)
WHISPERINGS OF THE MOON (Lai, Chn)

Iris Prize site 19th Iris Prize Festival
13-19 OCTOBER 2025
in Cardiff, Wales


2 0 2 5   A W A R D S . . .

Iris Prize: ONE DAY THIS KID
Audience Award:
TWO BLACK BOYS IN PARADISE
Feature: PLAINCLOTHES
British Short: BLACKOUT
British Actress:
Kat Ronney (HOT YOUNG GEEKS SEEK BLOOD-SUCKING FREAK)
British Actor:
Jay Newton (SLEAZY TIGER)
British Beyond the Binary:
Leah Harvey (SOLERS UNITED)
Feature Actress:
Ronke Adekoluejo (DREAMERS)
Feature Actor:
Russell Tovey (PLAINCLOTHES)
Youth Jury: WITH LOVE, LOTTIE
Elders Jury:
WHILE WE STILL HAVE TIME
Micro Short: THE GARDENER
Community Award: DYSGU HEDFAN
Education Award:
AFTER EVERYTHING

2 0 2 5   F I L M S
S H O R T S . . .

BIRTHDAYS (Jalily, Den)
BLACKOUT (Urch, UK)
BURY YOUR GAYS (Cooper, UK)
BUSCANDO ALMA (Fisher, US)
CATS CAN TEACH YOU TO DIE ALONE (Hanus, Pak)
CLEMENTINE (Tran, US)
COUSIN (Jato, Sp)
DAMP (Chen, Tai)
DANDELION (Obertinca, US)
DEMONS (Imani, UK)
THE DYSPHORIA (Aoibheann, Aus)
FR BRENNAN IS HAVING A BREAKDOWN! (Faulkner, Ire)
GAME RULES (Zetterberg, Swe)
THE HAMMER OF WITCHES (Haskjold, Nor)
HI MOM, IT'S ME, LOU LOU (Yilmaz, Tur)
HOLD STILL (Dynes, Aus)
HOT YOUNG GEEK SEEKS BLOOD-SUCKING FREAK (Virgoe, UK)
I'M THE MOST RACIST PERSON I KNOW (Varghese, Aus)
IF I'M HERE IT IS BY MYSTERY (Ribeiro, Br)
JACKIE (Sargent, UK)
JASMINE THAT BLOOMS IN AUTUMN (Das, Ind)
KRIZALIT (Ibarra/Tokgoz, Tur)
LISBON (Morgan, UK)
MAN ENOUGH (Tessema, UK)
MARLEEN (Leuven, Ned)
MEAT RAFFLE (Armstrong, UK)
MY SENSES ARE ALL I HAVE TO OFFER (Marques, Por)
NEVER, NEVER, NEVER (Sheedy, UK)
NEXT DOOR (Marz, Ger)
ONE DAY THIS KID (Farah, Can)
ORGANZA'S REVENGE (Scott, Can)
THE PASSION ACCORDING TO KARIM (Wursten, Fr)
PUREBRED (Roberts, UK)
RAINBOW GIRLS (Duffuor, US)
RIPE! (Tusk, US)



SECOND SPRING (Chubun, Cz)
THE SECOND TIME AROUND (Howard, UK)
SLEAZY TIGER (Ley, UK)
SNAPPED STRINGS (UK) SOLERS UNITED (Harrak, UK)
SOUVENIR (Petropoulos, Aus)
SOVIET FANTASIA (Balint, UK)
SWEETHEART (Wintour, UK)
TOAD SONG (Qin, Chn)
TOUCH ME WITH YOUR EYES (Kabore, Bel)
TRAILBLAZERS (Bushra, Wales, UK)
TWO BLACK BOYS IN PARADISE (Sells, UK)
TWO PEOPLE EXCHANGING SALIVA (Musteata/Singh, Fr)
WHILE WE STILL HAVE TIME (Grimshaw-Hall, Aus)
WITH LOVE, LOTTIE (Drummond, Aus)
WITNESS (Mehta/Jaan, US)
Y TOLLDY (Thomas, UK)
ZARI (Parekh, Ind)


F E A T U R E S . . .

3000 LESBIANS GO TO YORK (Dax, UK)
A TEACHER'S GIFT (Ribiero, UK)
CACTUS PEARS (Kanawade, Ind)
DEPARTURES (Eyre-Morgan/Ely, UK)
DREAMERS (Gharoro-Akpojotor, UK)
LESBIAN SPACE PRINCESS (Varghese/Hobbs, Aus)
ONLY GOOD THINGS (Nolasco, Br)
PILLION (Lighton, UK)
PLAINCLOTHES (Emmi, US)
SCREAMS FROM THE TOWER (Grant, US)
SISTERS (Yankou, US)
SOME NIGHTS I FEEL LIKE WALKING (Vargas, Ph)
TOMORROW'S TOO LATE (Loane, UK)

Iris Prize site 18th Iris Prize Festival
10-15 OCTOBER 2024
in Cardiff, Wales


2 0 2 4   A W A R D S . . .

Iris Prize: BLOOD LIKE WATER
Audience Award: SISTER WIVES
Feature: YOUNG HEARTS
British Short: SISTER WIVES
Micro Short: FACADE
Actress: Louisa Connolly-Burnham (SISTER WIVES)
Actor: Richard Wilson (G FLAT)
British Actress: Dennis Grindel (FAIRVIEW PARK)
British Actor: Ashley Goa
(DIVINE INTERVENTION)
Feature Actress: Luciana Grasso (VERA AND THE PLEASURE OF OTHERS)
Feature Actor: Lou Goosens
(YOUNG HEARTS)
Feature Commendations:
THE SUMMER WITH CARMEN and HIDDEN MASTER
Youth Prize: JIA
Community Award: THREE LETTERS
Education Award:
FORBIDDEN REVERIE

2 0 2 4   F I L M S
S H O R T S . . .

11:01 (Drosinos, UK)
ALL THE WORDS BUT THE ONE (Mau, US)
ALOK (Hedison, US)
AMOEBA (Fallon, Ire)
BENDER DEFENDERS (Putilova, UK)
BLOOD LIKE WATER (Hamdan, Pal)
BOYS IN THE WATER (Larue, Fr)
THE BRIDGES WE CROSS (Van Dongen, UK)
BUNK (Jasinski, Cz)
BUST (Field, US)
CHILDREN OF GOD (Kusi, Gh)
COME CORRECT (Coffee, US)
DEVELOP (James, UK)
DIE BULLY DIE (Lacey/Lacey, Aus)
DILDOTECTONICA (Marques, Por)
DIOMYSUS: MORE THAN MONOGAMY (Morus-Jones, UK)
DIPPED IN BLACK (Thorne/Lynch, Aus)
DIRTY TALK (Wyse, Ire)
DIVINE INTERVENTION (Tran, UK)
DON'T FORGET ME (Wang, Can)
EVERYTHING LOOKS SIMPLE FROM A DISTANCE (Toner, UK)
FACADE (Vi, UK)
FAIRVIEW PARK (Hodgetts/Nicolet, UK)
FISITOR (Titus, UK)
FORBIDDEN REVERIE (Huang, UK)
FORMER BEST FRIEND (Feng, Chn)
G FLAT (Darney, UK)
GIGI (Calvi, Fr)
HEROINES (Desrives, Fr)
HERON (Ross, UK)
HOMOFONIA (Murphy, Ire)
HONEYMOON (Papastathopoulos, Gr)
HOT MESS (Campbell, UK)
I HOPE HE DOESN'T KILL ME (Borchgrevink/Hanrahan, UK)
I NEVER PROMISED YOU A JASMINE GARDEN (Alkamli, Can)
IYKYK (Rajpurohit, Ind)
JIA (Shi, Aus)
KASBI (Jabir, US)
KINDNESS BEGINS WITH ME (Watkins, UK)
LOVE, JAMIE (Murthy, US)
MAKING UP (Paige, UK)
MAMI (Araci, Swe)
MAR(I)CONA (Lazaro, Sp)
MISS TEMPERANCE (McClain, UK)
MNM (Garcon, US)
NEVER KILL A FEMBOY ON THE FIRST DATE (Murphy, Ire)



NILOO (Koushki, Irn)
PEARLS (Konan, UK)
THE PERFORMANCE (Zhou, Ned)
PILL NATION (Tadeu, Br)
QUEER ENOUGH (Reynolds, UK)
RAGE CONSUMES ME (Waverley-Hudson, UK)
RAT! (Mulani, US)
READY FOR RANSOM (Dickel, Ger)
REJOYCE! (Ledger, UK)
SALLY LEAPT OUT OF A WINDOW LAST NIGHT (Spottiswoode, UK)
SILENT SPRING (Kilbride, UK)
SISTER WIVES (Connolly-Burnham, UK)
SKIN (Behrens, Nor)
SOME KIND OF PARADISE (Finegan, US)
STD (Campbell, UK)
TERRATOMA (Roche, Ire)
TETH (Darney, UK)
THIS IS NOT AN ATTACK ON YOUR PARENTING (Byrne, Ire)
THREE LETTERS (Graham, UK)
UNCHARTERED WATERS (Graham, UK)
UNTIL TODAY (Lyons, UK)
WATER'S EDGE (Barker, UK)
WHERE ARE ALL THE GAY SUPERHEROES (Martin, UK)
WHERE WE STAY (Bouvy, Ned)
WHO'S KITTY AMOR? (Diederen, UK)
YOU KNOW THE RULES (Tooth, UK)


F E A T U R E S . . .

GREER RALSTON: GIVING IT ALL TO ART (Dax, UK)
HIDDEN MASTER: THE LEGACY OF GEORGE PLATT LYNES (Shahid, US)
IN THE ROOM WHERE HE WAITS (Marshall, Aus)
INDIA'S 1ST BEST TRANS MODEL AGENCY (Mehrotra, UK)
LAST EXMAS (Rotella, Can)
LIFE OF RILEY (Lawrence, UK)
PERFECT ENDINGS (Ribeiro, Br)
ROOKIE (Lee, Ph)
SOLO (Dupuis, Can)
SUNFLOWER (Carrubba, Aus)
THE SUMMER WITH CARMEN (Mavproeidis, Gr)
VERA AND THE PLEASURE OF OTHERS (Tamburello/Actis, Arg)
YOUNG HEARTS (Schatteman, Bel)

Iris Prize site 17th Iris Prize Festival
10-15 OCTOBER 2023
in Cardiff, Wales




2 0 2 3   A W A R D S . . .

Iris Prize: SCARING WOMEN AT NIGHT
Audience Award: TED AND NOEL
Feature: FEMME
UK Short: F**KED
Micro Short:
TRICKLE-DOWN ECONOMICS
Actress: Meg Salter & Rosalind Eleazar (F**KED)
Actor: Emma D'Arcy (THE TALENT)
Beyond the Binary: Son of a Tutu (LEMON)
Feature Actress: Amrit Kaur
(THE QUEEN OF MY DREAMS)
Feature Actor: Hubert Mikowski (NORWEGIAN DREAM)
Feature Beyond the Binary:
Bishop Black (CAPTAIN FAGGOTRON SAVES THE UNIVERSE)
Youth Prize:
REALNESS WITH A TWIST
Community Award: WHERE'S DANNY
Education Award:
THE FIGHT IN THE DOG

2 0 2 3   F I L M S
S H O R T S . . .

100% USDA CERTIFIED ORGANIC HOMEMADE TOFU
17 MINUTOS CON NORA
A HISTORY OF SITTING IN WAITING ROOMS
AIKANE
THE ALEXANDER BALL
AN AVOCADO PIT
BEYOND THE SEA
BETTY AND JEAN
BLEACH
BOYFRIEND
BUBBLING
A CARDIFF GHOST STORY
COEURS BRISES HOTEL
DILATING FOR MAXIMUM RESULTS
DIOMYSUS
DOGFRIEND
DYKES ON BIKES: AN ORIGIN STORY
HAPPY BIRTHGAY
FORTUNE FAVOURS THE FANTABULOUS
F**KED
GOODBYE PYTHON
HIDEOUS
THE IMMEASURABLE
JELLY BEAN
JUST PASSING
LEMON
LONGING
MALCOLM
MALWA KHUSHAN
MONSIEUR LE BUTCH
MUD QUEEN
MY OLD GALS
MY SUMMER IN THE HUMAN RESISTANCE
NEM O MAR TEM TANTA AGUA



OUR MALES AND FEMALES
PENGUIN
REALNESS WITH A TWIST
REQUIEM
REQUIRED READING
REVIVED
SCARING WOMEN AT NIGHT
SINGLE: MEAT CUTES
SKADJA
SNUFF
SOME GIRLS HATE DRESSES
STONE
THE TALENT
TICKER
TED AND NOEL
TUI NA
TICKER
WARSHA
WILL YOU LOOK AT ME


F E A T U R E S . . .

ARTIST UNKNOWN
BIG BOYS
CAPTAIN FAGGOTRON SAVES THE UNIVERSE
CHUCK CHUCK BABY
EISMAYER
FEMME
IN BED
NORWEGIAN DREAM
OUR SON
THE QUEEN OF MY DREAMS
THE LOST BOYS
MUTT

iris Iris
Prize

Iris is the god of the rainbow — the universal symbol of sexual diversity. She is also a messenger.
P R I Z E   W I N N E R S   &   C A R D I F F   P R O D U C T I O N S
Iris Prize winners...
2007: PARIAH (Dee Rees, US)
2008: COWBOY (Till Kleinert, Ger)
2009: STEAM (Eldar Rapaport, US)
2010: THE SAMARITAN (Magnus Mork, Nor)
2011: I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK ALONE (Daniel Ribeiro, Br)
2012: THE WILDING (Grant Scicluna, Aus)
2013: GORILLA (Tim Marshall, Aus)
2014: ALL GOD'S CREATURES (Brendon McDonall, Aus)
2015: VESSELS (Arkasha Stevenson, US)
2016: BALCONY (Toby Fell-Holden, UK)
2017: MOTHER KNOWS BEST (Mikael Bundsen, Swe)
2018: THREE CENTIMETRES (Lara Zeidan, Leb)
2019: BLACK HAT (Sarah Smith, US)
2020: SHORT CALF MUSCLE (Victoria Warmerdam, Ned)
2021: BABA (Adam Ali/Sam Arbor, UK)
2022: TARNEIT (John Sheedy, Aus)
2023: SCARING WOMEN AT NIGHT (Issa, Can)
2024: BLOOD LIKE WATER (Hamdan, Pal)
2025: ONE DAY THIS KID (Alexander Farah, Can)
2026: MAGID/ZAFAR (Luis Hindman, UK)

Iris Prize productions...
2010: COLONIAL GODS (Rees)
2011: BOYS VILLAGE (Kleinert)
2012: LITTLE MAN (Rapaport)
2013: BURGER (Mork)

2014: HURT'S RESCUE (Scicluna)
2015: FOLLOWERS (Marshall)
2016: SPOILERS (McDonall)
2016: D & DAISY (Stevenson)

2019: INVOLUNTARY ACTIVIST (Blundsen)
2020: A BEAUTIFUL FORM TO SEE (Zeidan)
2022: CARDIFF (Smith)


2025: NEVER, NEVER, NEVER (Sheedy)
Rich Cline was on the 2010 Iris Prize Jury: 2010 IRIS SHORTS

FESTIVALS • FLARE | SUNDANCE LONDON | EDINBURGH | FRIGHTFEST | RAINDANCE | IRIS | LONDON
© 2026 by Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
HOME | REVIEWS | NEWS | FESTIVAL | AWARDS | Q&A | ABOUT | TALKBACK