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Luke Evans and Billy Porter among nominees for Iris Prize performance awards

The winners will be announced during the Iris Awards Show on Saturday 14 October

By Alastair James

Luke Evans and Billy Porter
Luke Evans and Billy Porter (Images: Provided and Attitude)

The Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival has announced the nominees for three performance awards, with the list including Luke Evans and Billy Porter.

The Cardiff-based LGBTQ film festival returns on 10 October and runs until Sunday 15.

Today (Tuesday 3 October) organisers announced 12 actors shortlisted for their performances in feature films. As well as the short films, the features will also be screened at the festival.

The awards are Best Performance in a Male Role in a Feature Film, sponsored by Attitude Magazine; Best Performance in a Female Role in a Feature Film, sponsored by Diva Magazine; and finally, Best Performance Beyond the Binary in a Feature Film sponsored by Peccadillo Pictures.

The nominees are:

Bishop Black (Queen Bitch in Captain Faggotron Saves the Universe
Louise Brealey (Helen in Chuck Chuck Baby
Nimra Bucha (Mariam in The Queen of My Dreams
Luke Evans (Nicky in Our Son
Amrit Kaur (Azra in The Queen of My Dreams
Kerry Lacy (Juniper in Artist Unknown
George Mackay (Preston in Femme
Lío Mehiel (Feña in Mutt
Hubert Miłkowski (Robert in Norwegian Dream
Billy Porter (Gabriel in Our Son
Annabel Scholey (Joanne in Chuck Chuck Baby
Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (Jules in Femme

The winners will be announced during the Iris Awards Show on Saturday 14 October. The final decision rests with the Feature Film Jury which is made up of students from the University of South Wales.

Known for presenting the largest short film prize in the world, Iris’ Festival Director, Berwyn Rowlands, celebrated this year’s crop of features as well as nominees as “our best programme ever!”

“It’s extremely traumatic and painful”

Speaking previosuly about Our Son, Luke Evans said “It’s Kramer vsKramer for the gay community.” He and Porter play divorcing husbands with an eight-year-old son. He also added: “It’s extremely traumatic and painful.”

All the Iris features will be screened at Vue Cinema in Cardiff. There will also be an extra day of screenings in Chapter Arts Centre on Sunday 15 October.

Tickets are available here as well as in person from 10 -15 October 2023 at the Festival Box Office at Vue Cardiff. Full details about Iris Prize can also be found here.