Uncharted Waters LGBTQ+ film nominated for award
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Following its premiere earlier this year, the National Museum of the Royal Navy is proud to announce that the film Uncharted Waters, created in partnership with the Royal Navy’s LGBTQ+ Network and filmmaker David Graham, has been nominated for an Iris Prize in the Community Awards.
Filmed in and around Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, the short film showcases how the first-hand experiences of LGBTQ+ Sailors and Officers have differed before and after the lifting of the ban on homosexuality in the armed forces in 2000. This is an important film both to tell this story and to be a starting point in making the collection of the museum more inclusive of LGBTQ+ history. The main Iris Prize is the largest LGBTQ+ short film prize, and they host films from across the world promoting LGBTQ+ stories, with a goal of entertaining, educating and inspiring.
One person who was instrumental in ensuring the Royal Navy was more inclusive of LGBTQ+ sailors is Oliver Brown, who campaigned for those who are HIV+ in the Royal Navy. Oliver also played a key part in one of the new displays in the HMS Gallery in Portsmouth. The Hear My Story gallery tells undiscovered stories from the ordinary people that have made the Royal Navy’s history over the last 100 years, and is the perfect place for the Terry Higgins Memorial Quilt. The quilt showcases different aspects of the life of Terry Higgins, a gay man, and one of the first people to die of an AIDS-related illness in the UK. He joined the Royal Navy at 18, this is indicated by the various cap tallies sewn into the quilt from various people who serve or have served in the Royal Navy. Terry served in the Royal Navy prior to 2000 and his time there ended in dishonourable discharge, but perhaps not for the reason you’d expect. He’d seemingly done it by choice, after a senior officer refused to discharge him after he admitted he was gay.
The Iris Awards are taking place in Cardiff between the 8th and 13th October, with Uncharted Waters being shown, alongside the rest of the films in this category, on Wednesday 9th October at 4:30pm. More information about the Iris Awards, and the full programme for the film festival, is available on their website.
Uncharted Waters is a free short film, and is available to watch on the National Museum of the Royal Navy’s YouTube channel.