Palestinian director Dima Hamdan wins Iris Prize; speaks on Israeli pinkwashing in acceptance speech

Palestinian filmmaker Dima Hamdan has won the world's largest LGBTQ+ short film award. During her emotional acceptance speech on Saturday night, 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". She also used her speech to highlight Israeli pinkwashing - a marketing and PR tactic employed by Israeli authorities to promote itself as a queer liberal "safe haven" in the Middle East to appeal to western allies while also distracting the world from its apartheid, military occupation, and war crimes.