His 2008 feature film '' Hunger '' , about the 1981 Irish hunger strike , premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival . McQueen received the Caméra d'Or ( first-time director ) Award at Cannes , the first British director to win the award . The film was also awarded the inaugural Sydney Film Festival Prize , for " its controlled clarity of vision , its extraordinary detail and bravery , the dedication of its cast and the power and resonance of its humanity " . The film also won the 2008 Diesel Discovery Award at the Toronto International Film Festival . The award is voted on by the press attending the festival . '' Hunger '' also won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association award for a New Generation film in 2008 and the best film prize at the London Evening Standard Film Awards in 2009
2008 Cannes Film Festival
2008 Cannes Film Festival
Steve McQueen (director)