Dima Hamdan

Dima Hamdan (Arabic: ديما حمدان; born 1975) is a Palestinian-Jordanian-British filmmaker and journalist based in Berlin. Her short film Blood Like Water (2023) won the 2024 Iris Prize.

Dima Hamdan
ديما حمدان
Born	1975 (age 49–50) Kuwait
Other names	Dima Abu Hamdan
Years active	1997–present

Early life

Hamdan was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents. Her grandfather was displaced from Umm Khaled during the Nakba, while her mother was "driven out at gunpoint" from Tulkarem during the Naksa in 1967. Amid Gulf War, Hamdan moved with her family to Jordan.^[1] Hamdan studied Law.^[2]

Career

Journalism

Hamdan began her journalism career in 1997 working as a parliamentary correspondent for The Jordan Times. She also contributed to Al-Hayat and the Middle East Times. In 2002, Hamdan joined the London office of BBC Arabic and BBC World Service.^[3] She worked for the network until 2014 as a reporter and producer.

As of 2017, Hamdan is founding editor and manager of the Marie Colvin Journalists' Network (MCJN), a collective of women journalists in the Arab World.^[4][5] As a freelancer, Hamdan has contributed to publications including The New Arab, The Markaz Review and The Badger Herald.^[6]

Filmmaking

Hamdan's debut short film Gaza – London, based on a true story of a Palestinian student in London who faces being away from his family during Operation Cast Lead,^[7][8] won Best Arab Film at the 2009 Jordan Short Film Festival.^[9] That same year, her project My Name is Ali was selected for the Sundance Institute's RAWI Middle East Screenwriters Lab.^[10] In 2010, Hamdan received the Abu Dhabi Film Commission's Shasha grant to develop a project titled The Kidnap,^[11] which was selected for the Hothouse workshop at the London Film School.^[12]

The next short film of Hamdan's to do a festival circuit was The Bomb (Die Bombe),^[13] which was a runner-up for the Human Rights Short award at the 2019 Naples Human Rights Film Festival.^[14]

Shot on location in the West Bank in 2023, Hamdan gained prominence through her next short film Blood Like Water, which follows a young gay man in the West Bank who faces blackmail from the IDF.^[15] Hamdan described the film as "fictional" but "based on real information".^[16] Blood Like Water premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh, screened at the 2023 Brooklyn Film Festival, where it was awarded Best Narrative Short,^[17] and won the 2024 Iris Prize.^[18] In her acceptance speech for the latter, Hamdan condemned Israel's pinkwashing.^[19]

Dima Hamdan is developing her debut feature film Amnesia, produced by Tony Copti. Amnesia received an Atlas Development Prize at the 2023 Marrakech International Film Festival.^[20]

Personal life

In 2009, Hamdan became a British citizen.^[21] She also holds Jordanian citizenship.^[7] She relocated to Berlin circa 2016 "to explore a different city".^[1]

Filmography

• Gaza – London (2009, short)
• The Bomb (2019, short)
• Blood Like Water (2023, short)
• Amnesia (TBA)