Press release鈥 Press release 鈥
- Cardiff BID sponsors the 2017 Iris Prize Festival.
- 鈥淭his partnership allows Iris to celebrate Cardiff as a vibrant centre聽for LGBT creativity to the world鈥
- Cardiff / Caerdydd to feature in festival鈥檚 new marketing plan
Organizers of the Iris Prize have today (26/06/2017) announced a new sponsorship deal with Cardiff聽BID 鈥 Business Improvement District. The new partnership will allow the annual LGBT film festival聽to highlight Cardiff as a vibrant centre for LGBT creativity.
Carolyn Brownell, Marketing and Communications Manager Cardiff BID, commented:
鈥淪urely there is no better time than LGBT pride month to announce that Cardiff BID are sponsoring聽this year鈥檚 Iris Festival. Iris is the world鈥檚 largest LGBT film festival and we鈥檙e delighted that this聽award-winning festival continues to take place in Cardiff and has for the last 11 years.
The six-day event showcases Cardiff to a worldwide audience and proves that Cardiff can deliver on聽the highest cultural level, the festival team have a strong commitment to our wonderful city and聽ensure they work with a variety of local businesses including Cardiff鈥檚 plethora of dedicated LGBT聽spaces, the main hub of the festival is in Cineworld, ensuring that visitors are drawn right into聽central Cardiff.鈥
Andrew Pierce, Iris Prize Chair, commented:
鈥淐ardiff has been home to the world鈥檚 largest LGBT short film prize and we want everybody to聽know about it. There is no doubt in my mind that Cardiff has been one of the secret ingredients in聽the success of the Iris Prize Festival.鈥
鈥淚 understand that many of the visiting film makers have come because of the 拢30,000 Iris Prize, but聽many return year after year even though they are not in competition. One of the many reasons聽they give for returning is Cardiff, which they cite as a friendly place full of cafes, restaurants and
amazing nightlife.鈥
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen a steady increase in the number of people coming to Cardiff for the Iris Prize Festival聽but we want even more people to join us. We are delighted to have secured this sponsorship from聽Cardiff BID, it will allow us to be even more creative with our marketing.鈥
Over the coming months the festival team will be revealing a new marketing strategy which will聽include a new cinema advert, printed advertising in Attitude, Diva, Winq and Buzz Magazines and a聽more focused approach to highlighting the role of Cardiff during the 6-day event in October across
all our communications.
The main festival sponsors are: The Michael Bishop Foundation, Welsh Government, BFI, Ffilm聽Cymru Wales, Pinewood Studios Group, Cardiff University, Cardiff BID, Gorilla Group, Cineworld,聽Pride Cymru, and Bafta Cymru.
Ends.
Further Details: Berwyn Rowlands, Tel: +44 (0)29 20232744, Mobile: +44 (0) 7860 818294
Email: berwyn@irisprize.org
Notes to Editors:
The Iris Prize 鈥 Cardiff鈥檚 International LGBT Short Film Prize is supported by The Michael Bishop Foundation聽and at 拢30,000 continues to be the only LGBT short film prize in the world which allows the winner to make聽a new film. In 2016 Iris was identified as one of the top 50 film festivals in the world by Movie Maker聽Magazine and promoted by BAFTA to ‘A’ list festival status alongside Cannes and Sundance by officially being聽recognised as a qualifying festival for the BAFTA awards.
Cardiff Business Improvement District (BID), was established in November 2016. It covers 130 streets across聽the capital city stretching from Principality Stadium to Newport Road and Butetown to Cathays and is one of聽the largest BID areas in the UK comprising over 990 levy payers. The BID raises over 拢1.5 million revenue聽each year, to spend on things that businesses (retail, leisure, tourism, office and commercial) voted for in the
business plan. Over five years the vision is to make Cardiff more welcoming, vibrant and influential.
Iris Prize past winners: Dee Rees (US) 鈥 2007, Till Kleinert (Germany) 鈥 2008, Eldar Rapaport (Israel/US) 鈥撀2009, Magnus Mork (Norway) 鈥 2010, Daniel Ribeiro (Brazil) 鈥 2011, Grant Scicluna (Australia) 鈥 2012, Tim聽Marshall (Australia) 鈥 2013, Brendan McDonall (Australia) – 2014, Arkasha Stevenson – 2015 (US) and Toby聽Fell-Holden 鈥 2016 (UK).
Past winners of the Iris Prize Best British award are: 2007 鈥 Abbe Robinson (Private Life); 2008 鈥 Connor聽Clements (James); 2009 鈥 Aleem Khan (Diana); 2010 鈥 Ana Moreno (Mosa); 2011 鈥 Andrew Steggall (The Red Bike); 2012 鈥 Fabio Youniss (A Stable for Disabled Horses); 2013 鈥 Jay Bedwani (My Mother); 2014 鈥 Charlie Francis (Middle Man); 2015 鈥 Lloyd Eyre-Morgan (Closets).