Iris Prize Winners 2010

12th October 2010

This year's Iris Prize Festival took place in Cardiff, from 6th – 9th October and the winners have been drawn.

The winners included are: The Samaritan (directed by Magnus Mork, Norway) - Iris Prize, Mosa (directed by Ana Moreno) – Best UK Short and My Friend from Faro (directed by Nana Neul)- Iris Prize Best Feature Award

The Samaritan, an accomplished short film about a lonely middle-aged man in desperate need of company has been announced as winner of the 2010 Iris Prize – Cardiff’s International Gay and Lesbian Short Film Prize.

At the annual awards evening at Cardiff’s Cineworld, Jury Chair Rebecca Mathews from British Council Wales announced that the international jury had selected filmmaker Magnus Mork from Norway to scoop the coveted award.

Rebecca Mathews said, “Firstly, the maturity of topics handled by the filmmakers astounded us. Yes, we had the all important coming of age films but we also delved into the difficult, sometimes unspoken areas of incest, immigration, corrective rape, asylum seeking, displacement, homophobia and HIV. 

“We experienced falling in and out of love, gay male bed death, issues around transgender, children, parenting and making babies and shoplifting.  We also witnessed adversity, the happy ever after, the happy never even begun, military training, and vampirism.

“It was quite a journey. And what was so refreshing for the jury was to see big gay films with big ideas and big characters and not simply gay films with gay characters. The films in competition have been very varied, but in the end the Jury agreed on The Samaritan.

“The Jury felt that The Samaritan demonstrated deft and nuanced filmmaking: it told such a big, urgent story of real relevance in a small film. It was so beautifully shot, and through the filmmaker’s masterly technique took us as viewers on a journey through place, people and characters and allowed us to creep into inscrutable corners.

“It is a film about human fears, trust, betrayal and also about political and social machinations told through an intimate personal encounter. We want to see much much more from this director”.

The Jury also gave an honourable mention to Watch Over Me (Shmor Alai) by Israeli filmmaker Mysh Rozanov. “Mysh’s film really excited us and the jury felt that this was an exceptionally promising and visionary filmmaker to watch out for in the future,” added Rebecca Mathews.

It was also announced that the festival’s award for best feature film was won by Nana Neul for My Friend for Faro. 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 Leader of Cardiff Council, Rodney Berman announced that the Best UK Short was won by director Ana Moreno for her film Mosa.  She will be invited to be a member of the 2011 Iris Prize International Jury as a guest of the festival.

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 India, Israel, and the United States.

The four day festival also included seven of the latest gay and lesbian feature films, with all enjoying their UK premieres at the festival.

The international jury included last year’s winner Eldar Rapaport from the USA, actor Nicholas Downs, journalist Richard Cline and film makers, actors and industry experts from across the continents.

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