Michelle Serieux, a 32 year-old Jamaican filmmaker, received the $10,000 award for her project Swimming on Dry Land

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

 Swimming on Dry Land  poignantly traces the lives of four young gay Jamaicans, at a time when the island is debating homosexuality publicly in politics, the press and in churches. The films title makes reference to the concept of fish’, a term used in Jamaica to refer to homosexuals, but also references their marginalization, coupled with an equally strong determination by some of the characters to live and love in Jamaica, despite the odds.

 Swimming on Dry Land  provides access into the layers of Jamaican society’s issues with homophobia and into lives of complex characters with widely differing experiences being gay and Jamaican. Ultimately, it makes us question the justice of keeping laws that discriminate against people because of their sexuality, and amplifies the call for human rights for gay people around the world.