A Palestinian woman, Dima Hamdan, has won the prestigious £30,000 2024 Iris Prize, the world’s largest LGBTQ+ short film award. Hamdan expressed being “deeply honoured” to receive the award, referring to it as the “Oscars” of the LGBTQ+ short film world. She also highlighted the significance of the prize coming from a community that has increasingly voiced support for Palestine.
The international jury, chaired by former Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price, described Hamdan’s film Blood Like Water as “an important reminder that queer people exist everywhere, including in Palestine at a time of war and occupation.”
Hamdan, a self-taught filmmaker and journalist based in Berlin, created a film that tells the story of Shadi, a young man who embarks on a secret adventure, unintentionally dragging his family into a perilous situation where they must choose between collaborating with the Israeli occupation or facing shame from their own community.
Reflecting on the award, Hamdan noted the difficulty of celebrating personal achievements amidst the ongoing war, which has been the most televised and live-streamed conflict in human history for over a year. She added that the Iris Prize gives her hope for a future where such dark times are behind them.
Festival director Berwyn Rowlands praised the event for showcasing stories often neglected by the mainstream, noting that many of this year’s LGBTQ+ films explored serious, sometimes dark themes, but still offered hope.
In addition to Hamdan’s win, Louisa Connolly-Burnham earned the Best British Short award for Sister Wives, a multi-layered love story set in a strict, fundamentalist, polygamous society in 2003 Utah, USA. Connolly-Burnham, from Birmingham, both wrote and directed the film, which tells the tale of two women defying their community’s social and religious constraints to find love.
The festival’s Best British Shorts category will be streamed by Channel 4 for a year after the festival, making all 15 shortlisted films available to a wider audience.
