Iris Winners 09

And the winners are:

· STEAM - Iris Prize

· DIANA – Screen Academy Wales Best UK Short

· REDWOODS - Iris Prize Best Feature Award

An accomplished short film in which the two characters are stuck in steam room was announced as winner of the Iris Prize – Cardiff’s International Gay and Lesbian Short Film Prize, valued at £25,000.

At the star-studded awards evening at Cardiff’s Cineworld Torchwood actor Gareth David Lloyd announced that the international jury had selected filmmaker Eldar Rapaport’s Steam to scoop the coveted award.

Accepting the award, Eldar said taking part in the competition and attending the three-day festival in Cardiff had been a fantastic experience. He was initially lost for words when he was announced as the winner, but thanked The Festivals Company and his hosts in Cardiff for making a welcoming and friendly festival.

Festival organiser Berwyn Rowlands said: "Again Cardiff demonstrated to the world that with the support of Iris the city could become a significant force for the world’s lesbian and gay film community. The closing night awards show was an incredible experience, with guests from Germany, Israel, Canada, Sweden and the US all enjoying our Welsh hospitality. Everyone involved should be very proud of what has been achieved.

"We’ve already started work on next year’s festival and are looking forward to working with Eldar on the short film he will make with Iris and her friends in 2011. Steam is an accomplished short that the jury unanimously agreed was a deserving winner. Eldar Rapaport is a talented film maker and I’m excited that he will return to UK to make a new film with his prize."

Chair of the international jury Joseph Galliano said it had been an extremely difficult decision to make with long and passionate debate as to who should win the competition for the world’s best gay and lesbian short film.

The Jury gave a special commendation to David Färdmar from Sweden for his film My Name is Love in which an encounter between Sebastian and Love causes severe consequences.

Adam Price MP announced that the festival’s award for best feature film was won by American David Lewis for Redwoods, an examination of how we deal with falling in love when we are already in love. The Award carries a £1,000 cash prize donated by Independent Financial Adviser Martin Briggs from Cardiff and is selected by the Friends of Iris.

The actor Brent Corrigan announced that the Screen Academy Wales Best UK Short was won by director Aleem Khan for his film Diana. He receives a bursary from the Academy towards training.

All of the film makers who travelled to Wales were hosted by the Friends of Iris, individuals who open their homes to the makers of the 30 short listed films from as far a field as Australia, Canada, and the United States.

The three day festival also included six of the latest gay and lesbian feature films, with several enjoying their European premieres.

The international jury included last year’s winner Till Kleinert from Germany, actor Daniel Robison, writer Paul Burston and film makers, actors and industry experts from across the continents.

At an earlier screening of last year’s winning film, Cowboy Till said the importance of the Iris Prize was that it gave new directors what they really need – the resources to continuing making films.

Eldar Rapaport (Steam), Matthew Montgomery (Redwoods) and Aleem Khan (Diana) pictured at Cineworld, Cardiff during the 2009 Iris Prize Awards Show.

www.irisprize.org