A short film by American film and television icon Danny Devito, Curmudgeons, has been shortlisted for this year’s Iris Prize.
Organisers of the Iris Prize have today announced details of the 35 short films competing for the annual LGBT short film award, the Iris Prize. Presented annually during the October film festival of the same name in Cardiff, Wales the Iris Prize continues to be the world’s largest short film prize. Perhaps the most notable name on this year’s shortlist is Curmudgeons, written, directed and starring Danny Devito.
Previous winners have gone on to produce more award winning short films with the generous £30,000 prize funded by The Michael Bishop Foundation.
Curmudgeons has already played extensively on the international circuit including BFI Flare, London and Frameline in San Francisco who nominated the film, which features two men who discover love late in life.
Andrew Pierce, Iris Prize Chair, commented: “These are once again a great mix of films from every corner of the world with 20 countries represented this year including a film which brings together the unlikely combination of Indonesia, Egypt, Netherlands and the US. Together these films give a very clear picture of what it’s like to be lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (lgbt) in 2017.
As we recognise the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales it is clear that much has yet to be done, especially in the countries not represented at Iris. It is distressing to be reminded that being gay is still a crime in way too many countries.
But there is much to celebrate and the shortlist of films includes some uplifting stories of young love as the new generation of lgbt people move away from the traditional coming out stories and focus on the joys of being true to themselves.”
The full list of competing films is available here: http://www.irisprize.org/the-
