Welsh star Tom Cullen joins Iris Prize jury for new student film award

Nation.Cymru staff

Welsh actor Tom Cullen is to chair the jury for a new student film award being launched to mark the 20th anniversary of the Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival.

Six films have been shortlisted for the inaugural Iris Prize Student Short Film Award, which is open to students studying film, media or related courses across the UK and Ireland.

Cullen will be joined on the judging panel by Emma Obank of Cardiff-based production company Bad Wolf and actor Ronke Adekoluejo, who won the Iris Prize Best Performance in a Female Role award in 2025 for Dreamers.

Cullen, whose recent credits include House of the Dragon, is currently filming Amazon series Life Is Strange and recently completed work on an adaptation of Walk The Blue Fields alongside Emily Blunt, Andrew Scott and Ciarán Hinds.

He is also due to appear opposite fellow Welsh actor Luke Evans in the series The Party.

Cullen said: “The quality of the shortlisted films is quite amazing, and confirms the future of storytelling via film is in safe hands.

“This has been my first involvement with the Iris Prize and it has been an absolute pleasure to view these student shorts with my fellow jury members.

“Congratulations to all six shortlisted films, you are all winners to me.”

The six films competing for the new award are Abracadabra, directed by Amay Mehrishi; Chaser, directed by Jesse Williams; Deep End, directed by Puzhen Zhang; Dirty Parrots, directed by Siân A. Williams; Mis-Angel, directed by Wyatt Carson; and The Bet, directed by Jack Patterson.

The films cover subjects including friendship, sexuality, gender identity, coming out and queer working-class history.

Abracadabra follows a 12-year-old boy wrestling with identity and unspoken emotions during a school bus journey, while Chaser explores gender, nightlife and dating culture from the perspective of a trans woman.

Deep End, set in early-2000s China, follows a 12-year-old girl whose friendship with a classmate during swimming lessons leads to her first queer awakening.

Experimental documentary Dirty Parrots explores landscape, trans identity, memory and performance, while Mis-Angel tells the story of a transgender girl recalling a brief encounter with a stranger at a bus stop.

The Bet follows a young man who summons the courage to come out to his religious parents, only for their response to take an unexpected turn.

‘Thrilled’

Festival director Berwyn Rowlands said: “We are thrilled to announce the shortlist for this new award, especially for our 20th anniversary edition. We have alumni from some prestigious film schools, such as the London Film School, the National Film and Television School (NFTS), and the Royal College of Art.

“It is an absolute pleasure to welcome Tom Cullen as our Jury Chair for the inaugural student awards, and also extend our thanks to Emma Obank from Bad Wolf, and Ronke Adekoluejo – winner of the 2025 Best Performance in a Female Role award for Dreamers – for joining him.”

All six shortlisted films will be screened during Iris Week and will also be eligible for the Iris Prize Co-op Audience Award through Iris Online.

The films will be shown on Wednesday, October 14, with the winner of the student award announced the following day after the festival’s Industry Day.

The Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival returns to Cardiff from October 12 to 18 for its 20th edition.

The festival began as a three-day event in 2007 with 1,500 people attending and has since grown into a week-long event attracting around 12,000 people.

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