DIVA meets trailblazing Palestinian filmmaker and Iris Prize award-winner Dima Hamdan
BY ROXY BOURDILLON
I was in the room when they announced the winner of this year’s Iris Prize, which is not only a coveted accolade in queer filmmaking, but also the world’s biggest short film award with its £30,000 prize pot. Cards on the table, I already knew that the winner was Blood Like Water, a searing depiction of what happens when Shadi, a young Palestinian man, is secretly filmed having gay sex and his family are then faced with a devastating choice: collaborate with the Israeli military or be publicly humiliated and shamed.
I knew because I was on the jury for “the LGBTQIA Oscars”. I was one of the many jurors who were deeply moved by this unique short, but nothing could prepare me for the visceral power of filmmaker Dima Hamdan’s acceptance speech. She told the audience: “This film is just a reminder that there is no pride when gay Palestinian men are blackmailed and oppressed and sometimes even killed by the Israeli military, the same country that prides itself on being the gay capital of the world. There is no pride when an Israeli soldier is waving a rainbow flag in the middle of the Gaza strip on the ruins of Palestinian homes.”
You can watch Dima’s speech for yourself here.
When I sat down with the Berlin-based, self-taught filmmaker and journalist, we discussed the true stories behind her groundbreaking short, what it’s like creating award-winning art at a time of such atrocities, and why the queer community has such a special place in her heart.
How did you feel when you found out you’d won the Iris Prize?
I’m not sure there is a word that has yet been invented to describe everything. When I found out there was a disbelief, like, “Oh my god, I can’t believe that I won.” And at the same time, there was a feeling of extreme loneliness in that moment. You’d have to be Palestinian to understand how these two feelings come together, especially because I know people in Gaza. Everything that happens, they’re the first people that come to my mind. Every day I check on their accounts to make sure they’re still alive and then here I am winning an award. Of course, I’m happy that my film is successful. I’m happy that the world is interested in stories of Palestine, but I just wish it didn’t come at such a dark time.
I feel like I don’t have the right words to say to you about what’s going on. I’m so, so sorry this is happening.
Thank you. Don’t feel that you need to find other words. That’s the only thing you can possibly say.
Let’s talk about this extraordinary film. What inspired Blood Like Water?
Any occupying power is going to try and find the people that it can recruit to control the people that it is occupying, so I knew that the Israeli occupation would deliberately target gay Palestinian men. Even though homosexuality is not criminalised in Palestine, there’s an unspoken code: keep it to yourself. Being outed in the most graphic way possible is a big thing. We have got to discuss this, but how to discuss it in a way that makes people listen is what’s important. I’m not there to provoke controversy. What I want is for conservative parents to sit in the theatre and feel seen and heard, rather than being spoken down to. I’m not fighting patriarchy. I’m negotiating with patriarchy.
Has Blood Like Water been shown in Palestine?
It has, but the timing was not right. The great thing about this film is that most of it was funded by the Palestine Cinema Days. They had screenings but hardly anyone showed up, because people are just broken. There is a war for survival. After I finished making the film, a confession video came out of a Palestinian man who was collaborating with the military. He led them to five fighters in the West Bank, who were assassinated because of him. When he was arrested for treason, he confessed that he was secretly filmed having gay sex and he had no option but to do this. He was executed because it’s treason. There was a discussion on social media. Hardly anyone shamed him because he was gay. There were people saying, “Did any of this really have to happen? Did five young men have to lose their lives?” Some people were saying, “Homosexuality is a sin” and “That’s no excuse”. But I was watching the chatter and I could see this has to be discussed.
How did you work with the actors to help bring those stories to life in such a compelling and convincing way?
I chose those actors not just because they’re very talented, but because they knew that world better than I did. I’m always aware, I’m telling a story that is authentic and Palestinian, but I’m also a diaspora Palestinian. So there are a lot of little details that they would know, and they would correct me on them. It was very important for me that this was a collaborative process.
What’s it been like showing your film at Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival?
It is very poignant for me, because I’m an ally of the community. I had to educate myself personally and come a very long way to understanding the community, and also understanding that anything that I don’t get is my problem. I’m an outsider, so I’m very mindful of that.
With everything that’s happening, what has the response been like from the queer community?
I’m based in Berlin and although Berlin is incredibly oppressive towards Palestinian activists, during Pride there’s always this one big block of queer demonstrators going out in their colourful glitter, making the most robust political statements for Palestine. That has always been so deeply moving for me. When I speak to my Palestinian friends and the conservative relatives that I have, I tell them this: “Do you not understand why, at such a granular level, a person from the LGBTQ+ community doesn’t need so much education about Palestine? Because they understand what it is to be an oppressed minority fighting for your right to exist.” So with all the darkness that we’re going through right now, the most televised, streamed genocide in the history of humanity, this is the one little glimmer of hope that certain new alliances, new understandings, new forms of love and solidarity are beginning to emerge.
Find out more about Blood Like Water at linktr.ee/bloodlikewater9
DIVA magazine celebrates 30 years in print in 2024. If you like what we do, then get behind LGBTQIA media and keep us going for another generation. Your support is invaluable.
