Dennis Harvey walked away with the Swedish equivalent of an Oscar for his short film “The Building And Burning Of A Refugee Camp” at the Guldbaggen awards ceremony held at Stockholm’s Cirkus theatre on Monday.
The 33-year-old film director from Dublin came out on top among the four nominees before going up on stage and giving an acceptance speech in Swedish in which he thanked his team and the subjects of the movie.
Described as an “intimate and poignant encounter with three asylum-seeking men who suddenly find themselves in the crosshairs of an increasingly militant far-right movement in a divided Ireland”, Harvey’s film has been shown widely in Ireland, Sweden and beyond.
“The biggest thank-you must go to Sami, Simon and Hasiballah – you dared to protest against the current inhuman EU migration policy, and you were violently attacked for it when so many stood and watched, including the police. There is no refugee crisis, there are only conscious decisions and political choices,” Harvey said, to reptuous applause from the audience.
Dennis spoke to the Irish In Sweden podcast almost a year ago about the film and his other wokr, and we have approached him to see if he’ll talk to us about his Guldbagge win – in the meantime, here’s the conversation from February 2024.