Jake Graf: Iris Prize
It’s time to party in Cardiff once again, as Wales’ biggest film festival returns. Fedor Tot looks ahead to what we can expect and chats to Jury Chair Jake Graf.
The Iris Prize, the UK’s biggest LGBT+ short film festival, returns to Cardiff once again next month. As ever, the basic principle of the festival remains the same: the best LGBT+ short films from all over the world compete to land the main prize, with £30,000 up for grabs to fund the winner’s next short film. Previous winners have included luminaries such as Dee Rees, who won in 2007 in the first Iris Prize with the film Pariah; her subsequent work has included the Oscar-nominated Mudbound. Elsewhere, in the Best British section, the winner receives a post-production credit note from Pinewood studios to finalise sound for their next short – as you can imagine, Iris is all about the next generation of LGBT+ filmmakers.
This year, there are 36 shorts in competition for the Iris Prize, and 15 shorts in the Best British section, with a further 14 feature films spread out to round up the programme alongside a selection of talks, Q&As and, of course, parties. The films themselves come from as far and wide as North Macedonia, Peru and London. In the features section thus far, there’s a strong showing from Australia, with the naturalism of Two Weeks (about a group of 20-something LGBT+ individuals) brushing shoulders with the intense mystery of Sequin In A Blue Room.
The former feels personable and likeable, concerned with the occasionally mundane ups-and-downs of being in a relationship. The latter thrums and broods with a nourish malevolence, as social media and obsession kick in together in an unholy mix. As LGBT+ filmmakers carve out an ever-larger space onscreen, we’ll hopefully get to see an even larger variety of stories – from postmodernist genre experiments to humanist dramas.
The Iris Prize is also a great opportunity to celebrate LGBT+ individuals, and the hard work of many who have helped in the fight for equal rights. This year sees Jake Graf take the Jury Chair for the Iris Prize. Graf is a transgender filmmaker who has been nominated for the prize several times. Speaking to Buzz, he mentions how vital the festival is for giving space to filmmakers like himself. “I have grown my filmmaking career almost entirely from the support of LGBTQ-focused festivals and one of the earliest to show me that support was Iris. My very first film, XWHY, based on my own transition and which I wrote, produced, directed and starred in, was nominated for the Iris Prize, which frankly blew me away.
“It was that support that spurred me on to continue writing and making films, all of which so far have been LGBTQ-themed. I have now screened at pretty much every LGBTQ film festival around the world, and there really is a global community and network that enables our films to reach the widest possible audience.”
Jake and his wife, Hannah – who is also on the jury and is the highest-ranked transgender woman in the British military – are both often seen as role models for the trans community, both being highly visible in the media and often asked to comment on issues related to gender. How important are role models when growing up?
“One of the main reasons that I make the films that I do, with trans and queer leads, is that growing up I had no one relatable to look up to. As a child in 80s London, that made for an incredibly lonely, scary and isolating experience during those all-important formative years. Hannah felt the same and was in fact particularly scarred by some of the representations that she saw.
“When a young person looks all around them for anyone that seems to mirror their own experience and finds only bigotry and hate, the damage that can do is long-lasting. When I began making films, I resolved to try and redress that imbalance, portraying trans characters living positive and happy lives so that hopefully young folk today wouldn’t feel quite so alone.”
With that in mind, Iris Prize 2019 looks set to be another beautiful expression of LGBT+ filmmaking.
Iris Prize, Cineworld Cardiff and various city centre venues, Tue 8-Sun 13 Oct. Tickets: £85 weekend pass; £25 day pass; £5-£7 individual screenings. Info: www.irisprize.org