Palestinian Filmmaker Awarded £30,000 Prize for LGBTQ+ Film

A Palestinian woman has won the world’s largest LGBTQ+ short film award.

Dima Hamdan said she was “deeply honoured” to receive the £30,000 2024 Iris Prize, because it was both “the ‘Oscars’ of the LGBTQ+ short film world” and “it comes from a community that has increasingly voiced its support for Palestine in recent years”.

Former Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price, who chaired the international jury, called Blood Like Water “an important reminder that queer people exist everywhere, including in Palestine at a time of war and occupation”.

Louisa Connolly-Burnham won the Best British Short at the Cardiff-based festival for her work, Sister Wives.

Hamdan is a self-taught filmmaker and journalist based in Berlin.

According to the festival, her film “tells the story of Shadi, who embarks on a secret adventure and accidentally drags his family into a trap where they only have two choices; collaborate with the Israeli occupation or be shamed and humiliated by their own people”.

Reacting to the prize, Hamdan said: “It is difficult to celebrate personal achievements when the most televised and live-streamed war in human history has dragged on for one year with no end in sight.

“In order to survive these dark times, I find strength by envisioning a future when all of this will be over.

“In that vision, I take solace knowing that the Iris Film Prize, its wonderful team and the jury will hold a special place in my heart for standing with us and helping to amplify our voices.”

Festival director Berwyn Rowlands said he was proud that the event shared “stories not necessarily covered by the mainstream”.

He added: “This year the filmmakers have focused on the more serious aspect of LGBTQ+ life. Although many are dark there is still hope.”

Connolly-Burnham, who is from Birmingham, wrote, directed, produced and co-starred in her film.

Sister Wives is described as a “multi-layered love story that tells the tale of young women living in a strict, fundamentalist, polygamous society in 2003 Utah, USA”.

Tim Highsted, who chaired the jury for the Best British Short, called it a “beautifully nuanced and performed drama about two women rebelling against their community’s social and religious constraints and finding love for each other”.

Channel 4 will stream all 15 films shortlisted in the Best British Shorts category for a year after the festival.