Iris Podcast

The winners of the Iris Prize 2021 explain how they got from and idea on Canal Street to a short film set in Libya. Sam Arbor and Adam Ali talk us through the backstory of Baba, Sam tells us how he met, and then forgot Adam, and the question on everyone’s minds, what colour is Adam’s top?

Rosemary discusses being open about your sexuality in the workplace, considers if she is a filmmaker that happens to be lesbian or a lesbian who happens to be a filmmaker and more importantly why is it still difficult for some people to say the word lesbian?

“Lesbian.” is a fierce, urgent poem by award-winning British-Syrian writer lisa luxx. It’s about the word “lesbian”, and the decades of toxic connotations that have made it feel like a hostile piece of language: 

So much so that today, many queer women hesitate before using it. Rosemary Baker’s short film of the poem, which features a cast of real queer women, uses intricate body painting to bring to life what those layers of toxicity feel like. In an era of headline-hitting attacks on lesbians in public, it is a call to arms to take the word back.

Rosemary Baker is a queer filmmaker and visual artist in Wales, with an established career in documentary filmmaking for television. Her film “Lesbian.”, originally commissioned for Channel 4’s Random Acts short film platform at the Edinburgh International TV Festival in 2019, is her debut short film, and her first collaboration with the spoken word artist lisa luxx.

‘From A to Q’ is the story of 22 year old Alex who wakes suddenly from a dream where she’s intimate with Kayla. Only problem is; Kayla happens to be Alex’s best friend and Alex has never been with a girl before…

She now has to navigate through her new found feelings, all the while trying really hard not to mess up the friendship she’s had since she was 5.

Emmalie is a writer, director and editor based in London who grew up in Spain, France and the US. In 2018 she made her first lesbian short film called ‘The Date’ which went on to do very well at film festivals around the world and has over 800k views online. Since then, she’s set out to create positive lesbian representation and in 2020, she made her second short film ‘From A to Q’. She’s very passionate about telling real human stories and hopes to continue doing so for as long as she can.

James Bell and Leo Lebeau Birthday Boy London based filmmakers James and Leo discuss the importance of authentic storytelling, how they engaged with the Trans community and secured their trust, and the challenges and rewards of being determined to find a Trans actor to play the lead role in Birthday Boy.

“Birthday Boy”  A transgender boy celebrates his birthday in online games, away from the bullying he faces at an all-girls school. A film by an LGBTQ+ crew.

Efa Blosse-Mason discusses her love of animation, how she sustained a wrist injury while animating and why she wants to create something "naughty and sexy" are just some of the topics covered in this podcast with Cardiff based Iris alumni, Efa.

'Cwch Deilen': An animated love story about a leaf which becomes a boat, and fears come out of the murky waters as sea monsters and storms. Will the Leaf Boat survive the tumultuous waves?

AWARDS: Official Selection at Tribeca Film Festival

‘Pop’ Storyline: Jack is a young boy exploring his own identity when he befriends a recently released ex-convict, Pop. The pair bond, but Pop's past and his inability to control his emotions threaten to put Jack in danger.

Margo Roe is a writer, director and choreographer from the Midlands, UK. Her career started with a theatre commission from the The Lincoln Company, co-directing a physical theatre piece for the TLC’s Edinburgh Fringe Tour 2014. In 2016 she was commissioned by Channel 4/Creative England Random Acts programme to direct and choreograph NAME, a short dance film now available on the Channel 4 website.

Margo’s recent short film ‘ Searching for Cowardice’ was created as part of the BBC New Creatives programme and broadcast as part of BBC4’s Female Filmmakers screening. ‘Searching for Cowardice‘ is now being adapted as a TV series with BFI Young Audience Content Fund and has been selected for the Torino Series Lab 2021. Margo’s BFI Midlands Short film ‘POP’, is now entering the film festival circuit.

'Cindy' Storyline: Cindy’s first time performing in drag might be camp and outrageous, but it isn’t exactly a success.

Rosanagh is a queer Australian filmmaker, based in London. In 2017 Rosanagh set up Spinster Films – a production company focused on producing creative-led intersectional female-driven projects. Since its inception, Spinster has produced the short doc My Mama, A Man, which was selected for this year’s BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival, and the forthcoming short narrative film Cindy, Rosanagh’s directorial debut, co-produced with Sevana Films.

Rosanagh is currently in production on the feature documentary Purity, directed by Susy Peña, which follows the story of a Ugandan trans refugee activist in Kenya as they prepare for relocation to Sweden. Spinster is also currently developing short narrative projects with Rashida Seriki and Dray K. In addition to her work as a producer and director, Rosanagh has had a respected career in Post Production, working on films including Brian Welsh’s Beats and Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here.

To listen to the podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PBjvIHVM8IcUh70xTJu7Y

'Mandem' Storyline: A job is just a job. But as with anything, time flies when you’re doing it with your best friend, and today’s no different. We follow Ty & Malcolm as they go about their daily routine. Just another day for two really good friends.

John Ogunmuyiwa is an award-winning Nigerian-born London-bred filmmaker; both director & writer. His work draws upon a constant questioning of what it means to be normal. Using daily observations as a base, he tends to bring a tinge of surrealism into his work. All with the aim of telling untold stories from a different perspective.

'Better' Storyline: As Max explores his gender identity, the bullying he faces at school becomes increasingly severe. When Max’s mum hears of a controversial new medical procedure that could protect him, she’s faced with a near-impossible personal and ethical dilemma.

Michael J Ferns is a BAFTA Scotland Award Winning and two-time Children’s BAFTA nominated director. Originally from Scotland, he moved to London six years ago and began directing full time. He has always been obsessed with the filmmaking process, starting to shoot and edit at age 12, culminating in a BAFTA Scotland win for a no-budget feature he shot, directed, and edited when he was 16. Since then, his love for filmmaking has only grown and has found him working across both television commercials and TV.

David doesn’t want to go out. But when his ex-husband Troy turns up, he feels like he might be able to face the scene again.

James Corley is a writer and filmmaker. He trained as an actor at LAMDA and a writer with Stephen Jeffreys. Short films include THE YELLOW ROOM and THE SCENE (as writer/director). Stage Plays include WORLD’S END, Kings Head Theatre (Theatre Weekly’s Off-West End Pick of the Year, 2019).

'The Passing' Storyline: A mortician has a difficult day at work.

Nichola Wong is an award-winning Writer-Director and 2020 Sundance Fellow. She recently won All3 Media’s New Drama Script award at Edinburgh TV Festival’s New Voice awards. She is a BFI NET.WORK x BAFTA Crew listed Director and a graduate of the prestigious NFTS Directors Workshop, supported by Walt Disney. Her latest film The Passing premiered at Channel 4 and screened at BFI Flare this spring. Her previous short films have played at film festivals all around the world, more recently BAFTA qualifying Aesthetica and Underwire, where she was nominated for Best Director.

My God, I’m Queer Storyline: Can you be Muslim and gay? A bereaved fiancé goes on a deeply personal journey to prevent the tragedy from ever happening again.

Matt Mahmood-Ogston is a filmmaker and the Founder of Naz and Matt Foundation, a multi award-winning charity dedicated to tackling religious and cultural homophobia. He set up the foundation in memory of his fiancé and soulmate of thirteen years, Dr Naz Mahmood, who sadly took his own life two days after his deeply religious parents confronted him about his sexuality.

His charity has helped hundreds of LGBTQ+ individuals who have come to them for support – and has been instrumental in securing safety and asylum for many individuals facing abuse and the prospect of being killed if they were forced to return to their country of birth.

Matt has committed his life to tackling this problem and uses filmmaking as a platform to amplify the voices of those who can inspire change. He regularly speaks at secondary schools, universities, public sector organisations and to the press about the extreme challenges of being LGBTQI+ and born into a strict religious family.

Naz and Matt’s personal story helped inspire a ground-breaking storyline in one of the most-watched TV programmes in Britain – Coronation Street. Their tragic love story has been shared around the world in the form of the BBC Folk Award nominated song “Be the Man”, released in the charts by The Young’Uns and performed at Glastonbury.

'Just Me' Storyline: As Jaz and Charlie make a final attempt to keep their relationship alive, one of them comes out as non-binary, sparking a conversation that will change them both forever.

Adam Tyler is a five-time BAFTA Children’s Award-winning director and writer. Adam has worked across five years creating short dramas and documentaries for TrueTube, during which time they have directed a total of ten BAFTA Children’s Award-nominated films, with their work also nominated for another 24 awards.

Adam’s short drama Refugee became the first-ever online-only film to win the BAFTA Children’s Award for Drama in 2016, and they collected the award again for Like Me in 2017. Adam’s documentary What Do You Mean I Can’t Change The World? won the inaugural BAFTA Children’s Award for Content for Change, and saw them nominated for their first BAFTA for Directing.

While developing Just Me Adam began questioning their own gender identity and has since come out as non-binary.

'Go Home Polish' Storyline: Angered by graffiti scribbled in a British backstreet demanding ‘Go Home Polish’, a photographer embarks on a thousand-mile walk back to his birthplace in search of home.

Ian Smith is a filmmaker based in Cardiff, Wales. Born in Lancashire he moved to Wales to study film at Newport Film School, where he was influenced by renowned documentary filmmaker John Grierson, the school’s Patron. Ian went on to become a BBC producer and director where he created a variety of formats, films and documentaries including Wales and Hollywood, How The Co-op Started, Homelessness: On the Edge. Ian also worked on drama formats including Doctor Who, War of the Worlds, Mistresses amongst many others. He continues to work for the BBC as a freelancer on current affairs, factual and music output. He also produces films through his company Auntie Margaret.