Deed News

• Jim, by Tom Young, wins the Co-op Best British Audience Award
• Channel4 to screen all 15 Best British nominated films from today
• Film4 to continue supporting the Best British Short for a further three years
• Welsh-made Skinny Fat by Mathew David is runner-up, and What Is A Woman from Marin Håskjold takes third place

Iris Online is over and Jim, directed by Tom Young has been announced the winner of the Iris Prize Co-op Audience Award for 2022. Young’s film has already been a winner in the Best Performance in a Male Role (Gary Fannin as ‘Jim’). The Iris Prize is Cardiff’s International LGBTQ+ Short Film Prize, supported by The Michael Bishop Foundation.

Tom Young said: ‘I’m delighted that “Jim” has spoken to audiences at Iris. I fell in love with the life story of the real-life priest behind the film after making a documentary about him in 2018, and it is great to have brought a part of that to life.

‘Our hope now is to expand that into a feature biopic, so to have this recognition means a lot. A huge thank you to my cast – especially Gary who’d already deservedly won Best Actor – and crew, to Iris for the original nomination, and to Iris audiences for their support.’

Written and directed by Tom Young, Jim was inspired by true events in west London, in 1982. Gay priest Jim Fitzsimmons reaches a decision: he is going to spend one night with a rent boy. The night will change Jim’s life forever, but not for the reasons he expects.

The runner-up for the Co-op Audience Award is Skinny Fat, made in Wales by Mathew David, and in third place, What Is A Woman, by Marin Håskjold from Norway.

Rebecca Birkbeck, Director of Community and Member Participation said: ‘We are delighted to again support the Iris Prize, and to see the quality and range of LGBTQ+ stories coming through. Congratulations to Tom and all involved in Jim for telling this story. It is important that everyone is able to live their life openly and without fear.

‘I’m lucky that in my role at the Co-op, and now as a sponsor of our Respect network, I’m able to continue our support and allyship for the LGBTQ+ community all year round. From the community groups we support through our community missions to our ongoing partnership with Iris, enabling us to support young people through our education outreach day at Co-op Academies.

‘Co-op’s vision is “Co-operating for a Fairer World”, and the Iris Prize once again illustrates the power representation on screen can play, helping to achieve the changes we want to see in our society.’

The 15 short films nominated for the 2022 Iris Prize Best British award will be available to watch from Monday, 7 November 2022. The first Programme will broadcast at 02:10 (Tuesday morning) with the following two on the next consecutive nights (01:15 and 01:05).

The three Programmes are listed on the Channel4 TV listing at http://www.channel4.com/tv-guide/2022/11/07

• Iris Prize Best British: Youth (Monday 7 November, 2.10am – 3.25am)
• Iris Prize Best British: Lonely Hearts (Tuesday 8 November, 1:15am – 2.20am)
• Iris Prize Best British: Finding Joy (Wednesday 9 November, 1:05am – 2.25am)

All three programmes and all the individual films will go live on the All4 platform right after the first broadcast.

Berwyn Rowlands, Iris Prize Film Festival Director, said: ‘We are thrilled to be able to present to our audiences 15 short films made in Britain and supported by one of the most LGBTQ+-friendly broadcasters and champion of the Iris Prize.

‘This year’s Best British award marks the continuation of a three-year sponsorship agreement with British producer and broadcaster Film4. The agreement will see Film4 acquire broadcast and streaming rights to each of the 15 British LGBTQ+ short films shortlisted for the Iris Prize Best British Short Supported by Film4.  All of the nominated films are eligible for consideration for BAFTA and can automatically be entered by the filmmakers.

‘Iris may have left Cardiff for this year but will be back touring the country in the new year.  Watch this space.’  

Full details about Iris Prize and this year’s winners can be found here: www.irisprize.org

Iris Prize will return next year: Tuesday 10 October – Sunday 15 October 2023

The main festival sponsors are: The Michael Bishop Foundation; Creative Wales, a Welsh Government agency that supports the creative sectors in Wales; the BFI awarding funds from The National Lottery; Ffilm Cymru Wales; Film4; University of South Wales; Cardiff University; Co-op Respect; Bad Wolf; S4C; Gorilla Group; Peccadillo Pictures; Pinewood Studios; Attitude Magazine; Diva Magazine; The Ministry Venues; FROOT and Aberystwyth University. The festival also works in partnership with BAFTA Cymru, Pride Cymru and Stonewall Cymru.

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About Iris Prize

The Iris Prize – the largest LGBTQ+ short film prize in the world is supported by The Michael Bishop Foundation. £30,000 is available to the winner to make a new LGBTQ+ themed film in the UK. In 2020, for the 5^th 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.

About Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival

The Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival is a six-day celebration of LGBTQ+ film which takes place annually in Cardiff, Wales, UK.  The 2023 festival will be our 17^th edition and much has changed since the first 3-day festival in 2007 with 1,500 admissions. Today the flagship festival is almost a week-long, attracts 11,000 admissions, and the online offer is a month long with a UK on-line audience of 84,000.

About Film4

Film4 is Channel 4’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. 

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