The Iris Prize Festival will take place from October 2nd – 4th in Cardiff, Wales (UK).

It's the world’s largest gay and lesbian short film prize and is open to any short film which is by, for, about or of interest to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex audiences and which must have been completed within 2 years prior to the prize deadline (June 27th, 2008).

For this year’s Iris Prize Festival theye are also accepting feature films to screen as part of the 2008 programme.

Last year’s winner of the Iris Prize was Dee Rees for her film Pariah. To find out more about last year’s festival programme click here.  

Andrew Pierce the Assistant Editor of The Daily Telegraph (London) and LA based producer Christopher Racster were confirmed on the 14th April as patrons for the Iris Prize Festival joining popular actor Matthew Rhys (Brothers and Sisters) and film maker Sara Sugarman (Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen).

"As a London based journalist I was flattered to be invited as a judge for the inaugural Iris Prize Festival in 2007. I remember commenting during the closing awards show that I hoped to be invited back to Cardiff, so when the invitation came to become a Patron for the Festival I immediately said yes," said Andrew Pierce.

"This festival is going to become an established part of the arts calendar. I’m confident that over the coming years we’ll see an increase in the number of journalists from London and further a field reporting on the event. I’m looking forward to working with the team to make this happen," he added.