We won!
We are extremely pleased to be able say that we were awarded the Media Moment award at the South Yorkshire LGBT+ Awards last night. E.D.E.N was up against some very worthy nominees and we were honoured to be recognised alongside so many other inspirational LGBT+ activists.
Thank you
2016 was a big year for us as we launched the first ever trans-focused film festival, Transforming Cinema, and we couldn’t have done it without all the support that we had.
We want to thank everyone at E.D.E.N; Claire, Bella, Becki and Josh. Kellie and Cyd, our funders the Big Lottery Fund, and everyone who helped make E.D.E.N Shorts and Transforming Cinema happen. Our E.D.E.N Shorts mentors Brett and Fiona, everyone who attended our workshops, the Trashing Transphobia and E.D.E.N Shorts crew – we admire you and your work so much. Further thanks go to all the speakers and artists who made the festival what it was, we were extremely honoured to have you, to everyone who submitted the amazing films that we were able to show and of course everyone who came and made the festival what it was. Thanks to all the venues and all our fabulous volunteers and everyone who helped spread the love on social media and elsewhere.
E.D.E.N Shorts and Transforming Cinema was a success, however our work here is not done.
We live in a part of the world where, although we do not see fair representation in the media and our society is not free from homophobia, biphobia or transphobia, we are able to celebrate events such as the South Yorkshire LGBT+ Awards, Pride and Transforming Cinema. Around the world, however, this is not the case and we have been reminded of that not least in the last couple of weeks, where the atrocities in Chechnya have shocked us deeply.
In times like these it is important that the media takes responsibility. At E.D.E.N we believe that by adding our LGBT+ voices to the conversation, by demanding space be given to our stories and by telling our truths we can create a change.
We are so proud of the many fantastic filmmakers who have taken part in our projects, who have shared their talent with us and who are doing just that; creating positive change. To them and all LGBT+ filmmakers out there: we urge you to keep doing what you are doing. Together we can continue to transform cinema.
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The full list of all the winners at the South Yorkshire LGBT+ Awards can be found here. We look forward to next year, when we hope to see an even more diverse event.
