The fifteen LGBT+ films shortlisted for the 2021 Iris Prize Best British Short will be broadcast on Channel 4 and streamed on All 4, beginning on Monday the 29th of November.
2021 marks the second year of a three-year sponsorship agreement between Film4 and the Iris Prize LGBT+ Film Festival, the Cardiff-based annual celebration of LGBT+ film. Film4 is the title sponsor of the festival’s Best British Short competition, acquiring broadcast and streaming rights to this year’s fifteen shortlisted films, which were free to view by a UK-wide audience for the first time in 2020.
Tim Highsted, Senior Editor of Acquired Feature Films for Film4, chaired the jury for Best British Short. ‘Our partnership with the Iris Festival continues to showcase the sheer diversity of talent we have in UK short filmmaking and its success on All 4 proves there is an audience wanting to watch unique stories from new talent,’ he said.
2021’s shortlisted films explore the breadth of British LGBT+ experience, with stories ranging from the dark depths of drug addiction and workplace bullying to the joyous highs of tender first love and releasing your inner drag king. Featuring diverse characters ranging from a transgender teenager to Mr Gay Wales, this year’s shorts highlight the wealth of talent working in short film in the UK. The selection includes Baba — only the second film in the Festival’s history to win both its main award the Iris Prize and the Best British Short award — and the two films highly commended by this year’s jury, Cwch Deilen and Pop. The list also includes three films from Wales.
‘We knew that working with Channel 4 and All 4 would be amazing, and we were looking at a game changer in how we could reach a new audience for the Iris Prize short films,’ said Berwyn Rowlands, Festival Director. ‘I did start dreaming about audience numbers, but it soon became apparent that this was the gift that kept giving. Never in a million years did I ever think we would reach so many people, introducing an audience to new and exciting LGBT+ stories. I’m delighted for the filmmakers and grateful to the talented people at Channel 4 who took a chance with Iris. I’m speechless!’
The fifteen films which were shortlisted for the competition and will now be streamed on All 4 are:
Baba (Sam Arbor and Adam Ali, winner)
Cwch Deilen (Efa Blosse-Mason, highly commended)
Pop (Margo Roe, highly commended)
Acrimonious (Olivia Emden)
Baby Boy (Greg Hall)
Birthday Boy (Leo Lebeau)
Dragged Up (Laura Jayne Tunbridge)
Factory Talk (Lucie Rachel and Chrissie Hyde)
From A to Q (Emmalie El Fadli)
Inertia (Mat Johns)
Lesbian (Rosemary Baker)
S.A.M (Lloyd Eyre-Morgan and Neil David Ely)
Silver and Gold (Jack Pulford)
Split Sole (Barnaby Boulton)
Three Letters (Ian Smith)
For more information on the shortlisted films and directors, visit the Iris Prize website.
