Iris Awards

And the winner is

A short film about a blind 15 year old Brazilian teenager who falls in love with his new friend, Gabriel has been announced as winner of the 2011 Iris Prize – Cardiff’s International Gay and Lesbian Short Film Prize. The £25,000 prize will allow the film maker to make a new short film in the UK.

At the sold out awards evening at Cardiff’s Cineworld, Jury Chair Mary Fitzpatrick announced that the international jury had selected filmmaker Daniel Ribeiro from Brazil to scoop the coveted award. She said, “The jury thought that I Don’t Want To Go Back Alone took a simple story out of a very jagged path and it won because hope and love should never become redundant. “

Other winners were:

The Red Bike (directed by Andrew Steggall) – Best UK Short

August (directed by Eldar Rapaport)- Iris Prize Best Feature Award

Murray Bartlett (Troy in August) Best Actor in a Feature

Allison Lane (Candy in Going Down In La-La Land) Best Actress in a Feature

The four day festival also included eight of the latest gay and lesbian feature films, with all enjoying their UK premieres at the festival. The Iris Prize – Cardiff’s International Gay and Lesbian Short Film Prize is the only LGBT short film prize in the world which allows the winner to make a new film. Iris is more than just a trophy that gathers dust or a certificate that yellows on the wall. Iris is what film makers need – funding, support and guidance