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# FILM REVIEW: Iris Prize shorts Part 1 – Queer Youth
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/film-review-iris-prize-shorts-part-1-queer-youth/
- Published: 2022-11-14T17:00:22.000Z
- Updated: 2022-11-14T16:05:35.000Z
- Description: In the first of three articles, Brian Butler looks at six finalists from this year’s Iris Prize available to watch now on Channel 4’s All4
- Author: Brian Butler
- Tags: Arts, Reviews, Television, All 4, Channel 4, Iris Prize

The 15 short British films from this year’s prestigious **Iris Prize LGBTQ+ film festival** are now available free on[ Channel 4’s All 4](https://irisprize.org/iris-on-channel4-all4/?ref=scenemag.co.uk) platform.

In my first look, I watched six shorts under the banner of *Queer Youth*.

From Northern Ireland, **Homebird** is about the awkward reunion of a Gay son and father, when Conor returns home after having left with his then boyfriend. It’s moody, with a kind of grieving atmosphere and there’s comedy in the awkwardness of father and son, as Conor’s family try to adjust to his new life. There’s a painful gulf but signs of hope.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/the-piss-witch600-.png)

**Piss Witch* is a clever juxtaposition of a folk tale about a local old woman, who can allegedly urinate over the church wall and a blossoming girl with ever-growing breasts, which she is hugely self-conscious about. Her mother’s attitude is: ‘if you’ve got it, flaunt it’. The implication is that the girl in question – Clare – clearly feels she is the wrong gender. When she’s repeatedly stalked she takes drastic if slightly funny action – as the title implies. We’re given a play on the word Whizzer – which means both breasts and someone who urinates. It’s a story that leaves you wanting more.

***Keep Off The Grass*** is about a young footballer, Sonny, who denies his queerness, but has a sudden attraction to another male player. It’s a tightly-told story of coming out, denial and identity. Sonny’s younger brother knows the truth and supports him and the film’s closing moments are a queer affirmation that works well.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/nant_grd-v006_full-res_0001659-600.jpg)

The Welsh film **Nant** was to me a puzzlement. It mixes mythic folklore with a cross-dressing boy Dion, who sings falsetto in a small choir in Snowdonia and is constantly humiliated and abused by his fellow choristers. When a stranger appears, there is further turmoil. A clearer exposition would have helped but it’s intriguing.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/silence3600.jpg)

***Silence* features Joseph, who spends his nights away from home creating huge graffiti artworks. In a derelict building he finds a girl practising ballet, and he’s hooked – acquiring a full-length practice mirror. It’s a kind of mixed heritage *Billy Elliott* tribute, but there are complications when his irate father finds him pirouetting. It has a brilliant ending where ballerina and boy dance a stunning pas de deux to funk music. CBBC and *Blue Peter* presenter Kai Joseph Keenan-Felix is outstanding as the boy dancer and clearly has a great future in both acting and dance**

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/flourescent-adolescent6002.jpg)

***Fluorescent Adolescent* is set in England in 1987, we’re told. Brittany has found herself a gay friend, a boy called Faras, but this is treated with open hostility and ignorance by her mother, who is brandishing the recently-published government leaflet about the dangers of AIDS. In the end there’s a reconciliation of sorts and Faras is allowed to visit, knowing of course that Brittany is gay too. It’s an endearing story that could go further.**

All of the Iris shorts are on All 4, thanks to a three-year deal with Channel 4\. [Full details here.](https://irisprize.org/film/queer-youth/?ref=scenemag.co.uk)

Next time I look at a second compilation: *Lonely Hearts*.