Iris Prize Best British Short films head to All 4

22 November 2021

The 15 LGBT+ films shortlisted for the 2021 Iris Prize Best British Short Supported by Film4 will be broadcast on Channel 4 and steamed on All 4, beginning Monday 29th 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 film competition, acquiring broadcast and streaming rights to the 15 shortlisted films, which were free to view by a UK-wide audience for the first time in 2020, achieving half a million views on All4 and an additional half a million viewers on Channel 4 over the past year.

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.

Tim Highsted, Senior Editor, Acquired Feature Films for Film4, who chaired the jury for Best British Short, comments: “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. We are delighted to continue presenting these short films on All 4 to as wide an audience as possible.”

Berwyn Rowlands, Festival Director said: “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. 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 film makers and grateful to the talented people at Channel 4 who took a chance with Iris. I’m speechless!” 

The 15 films shortlisted to compete for the 2021 Iris Prize Best British Short Supported by Film4 are:

BABA – Sam Arbor and Adam Ali - Winner

CWCH DEILEN (Wales) – Efa Blosse-Mason – Highly commended

POP – Margo Roe – Highly commended

ACRIMONIOUS – directed by Olivia Emden

BABY BOY – Greg Hall

BIRTHDAY BOY – Leo Lebeau

DRAGGED UP – Laura Jayne Tunbridge

FACTORY TALK – Lucie Rachel & Chrissie Hyde

FROM A TO Q – Emmalie El Fadli

INERTIA – Mat Johns

LESBIAN (Wales) – Rosemary Baker

S.A.M – Lloyd Eyre-Morgan & Neil David Ely

SILVER AND GOLD - Jack Pulford

SPLIT SOLE – Barnaby Boulton

THREE LETTERS (Wales) – Ian Smith

 

More information on and images of the shortlisted films and directors are available at: https://irisprize.org/bestbritish/  

A trailer for the 2021 Iris Prize Best British Short Films is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcDMTJjkyO0&t=8s

 

///ENDS///

 

For further information please contact:

Ryan Johnson-Leigh

Jessica Culshaw

 

Notes to Editors:

Film4 channel is available for free to everyone with digital TV. It is the UK’s number one film channel. A daily line-up of great movies guarantees a choice for every type of film fan, including the best of British film-making, Hollywood blockbusters, independent and world cinema, timeless classics and cult favourites, through an innovative schedule that features regular themed strands and seasons.

Film4 is Channel 4 Television’s feature film division, which develops and co-finances films and has an established track record for working with the most distinctive and innovative talent in UK and international filmmaking. Film4 has developed and/or co-financed many of the most successful UK films of recent years, including Academy Award-winners such as Florian Zeller’s The Father, Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite, Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, Lenny Abrahamson’s Room, Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire and Phyllida Lloyd’s The Iron Lady.

www.film4.com | @Film4

 

All 4 is Channel 4’s award-winning free streaming service that’s home to thousands of hours of iconic Channel 4 programmes through its extensive library of box sets and shows, with original and exclusive content including US acquisitions, featured channels such as Adult Swim and the best global drama from Walter Presents, plus live streams and catch up from all of Channel 4’s broadcast channels.

A curated selection of films shown on Channel 4 and Film4 are also available for either seven or 30 days to stream on All 4.

All 4 is available on more than twenty platforms including All4.com and via the app on mobile and tablet (iOS, Android, Windows Phone), games consoles (Xbox, PlayStation) and big screen (Samsung, Amazon Fire TV, Google Chromecast, Apple TV, YouView, Freeview Play and Now TV). It is also available via third-party providers, such as Sky and Virgin Media.

All 4 has 23 million registered users, including 80% of 16-34 year olds in the UK.

The Iris Prize – the largest LGBT+ short film prize in the world is supported by The Michael Bishop Foundation. £30,000 is available to the winner to make a new LGBT+ themed film in the UK. In 2020, for the 5th time, Iris was identified as one of the “top 50 film festivals worth the entry fee” by Movie Maker Magazine. In 2017 the festival was promoted by BAFTA to A-list festival status, alongside Cannes and Sundance, by officially being recognised as a qualifying festival for the BAFTA awards. 

The Iris Prize LGBT+ Film Festival is a celebration of LGBT+ stories which takes place annually in Cardiff, Wales.  The 2022 festival will be the 16th edition and much has changed since the first 3-day festival in 2007 with 1,500 admissions. Today the festival is a week-long, attracts 11,000 admissions to Cardiff, and the month-long on-line version reaches a UK audience in excess of 80,000.