Tag Archives: Always Amber

TEDDY TALKS & PANELS 2023

PROGRAM

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17th

22:30 TEDDY JURY RECEPTION: Moderated Introduction to our Jury
The traditional introduction of the TEDDY AWARD jury with information and talks about the work of the jury, their festivals and what a queer film award means to them.

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18th

15:15 – 16:30 CURATING THE FUTURE: Towards programming equity (EFM Industry Session)
What is the future of film programming? Join us for a discussion of just, ethical, and community-rooted film programming practices as well as a participatory worldbuilding experience to chart the future of the field with Karim Ahmad, Jemma Desai, Can Sungu, Lucy Mukerjee and Tambay Obenson.

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20th

12:30 – 13:30 DIRECTORS EXCHANGE: Time after time, club culture and the concept of time in Queer Cinema

This year, a number of films invite us into the club as a social place and a space of timeless seduction and seemingly endless possibilities: two being Anthony Lapia’s film After; and Hannes Hirsch’s Berlin metamorphosis Drifter. These films could not be more different in style and narrative, but they both find a common denominator between beats, hedonism and losing oneself. We invite both filmmakers to speak about their inspiration and approach in crafting their films. 
Moderator: Ana David

14:30 TEDDY TALK: QueerWeb Part 1

The QueerWeb series is about exploring, analysing and connecting elements, initiatives and organisations that can strengthen the queer film network, from production to programming, networking to training and exhibition to archiving. In Part 1, we begin by navigating existing organisations that support people within the industry. From collectives and initiatives to training programs set up to strengthen connections from within. By coming together, we look to analyse existing power structures and discuss how each of us, through our work, can collectively go about demanding changes.
Moderator: Nastaran Tajeri-Foumani

16:30 DIRECTORS EXCHANGE: Biographies of beauty, rebellion and truth. Trans* narratives as tools of unapologetic self-representation


Moving through 24 hours of sweeping emotions in the existence of a singular trans* man to the unfiltered wisdom and self-empowerment of four black trans* sex workers, Directors Vuk Lungulov-Klotz and D. Smith talk us through their bold cinematic statements of artistic and aesthetic expression. Fuelled by their respective critique of a binary world, the importance of self-representation will be explored within the directors’ exchange. 
Moderator: Djamilia Grandits

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21st

14:00 – 15:30 TEDDY TALENTS TALKS


Five queer film professionals present a 10-minute talk around Queer Visions. Creating that vision from existing realities, from experiences on film sets, in pitching meetings, writers rooms, auditions or creating that program for your festival audience? How do these visions or utopias look, are they achievable or are we just kidding ourselves? Let us explore the possibilities of change in the TEDDY Talents Talks. 
Moderator: Djamilia Grandits

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22nd

9:30 – 18:30 EFM QUEER FOCUS DAY: Screenings
Queer Film Catch Up Screenings

10:30 MANIFESTATIONS: Queer Short Film Program
Market Screening Event for Programmers

14:30 TEDDY TALK: From Surviving to Thriving!
In an effort to strengthen the Queer Film Market we must first look at its many fragile entities. The Queer Film Festivals, made mostly on shoestring budgets, the Queer Films with little to no development funding and the distribution network, heavily dependent on the screening fees from the festivals that in turn struggle with little to no budgets. How has this survived up until now and is this sustainable in the face of a changing cinema landscape?  In taking an in depth look at existing structures, we aim to examine the balance between surviving and thriving.
Moderator: Skadi Loist

16:30 QUEER YOUR PROGRAM: Hybrid Those Speedy Film Pitches
Thirty Filmmakers whose films are ready for distribution will present their projects within two-minute pitches to programmers, distributors and sales agents. Join in to find potentially your next opening night film.
Moderator: Bartholomew Sammut

18:30 QUEER INDUSTRY RECEPTION
The annual gathering of industry professionals from the Queer Film Industry, from filmmakers to programmers, to distributors and sales agents.

What happened to the film releases from 2020?

Just a few days after the exhilarating climax of the Berlinale – the TEDDY GALA 2020 – the lights went out everywhere, not just in our halls.

As you all know too well, the Covid-19 pandemic has hit cultural venues as well as professionals particularly hard, literally thinning the air they could breathe. Cinemas around the world have been closed indefinitely, film festivals have had to be cancelled or moved to a digital setting. At the same time, the private cinema – the movie experience at home – is becoming a popular evening activity thanks to the numerous streaming services.

But what about the movies? Weren’t these made for the cinema, and not to be used as an evening sideline to folding laundry?

We checked in with the TEDDY Filmmakers 2020 to find out what happened to their just-released films and how they’re coping under the seemingly never-ending restrictions.

 

Berlinale 2020 – One of the last festivals to take place before lockdown

Many filmmakers report that the Berlinale was in part the only “analog” festival they were able to attend.

Last year has been a very strange one but we have to say that we have been lucky in many ways. We managed to have our premiere in Berlin with you and also our national premiere at a film festival here in Stockholm before everything closed down. We are really thankful for that and still think about our time in Berlin and […] the amazing response we got from the audience <3

Hannah Reinikainen – Director from ‘Always Amber’

The Berlinale was the first and last festival we had the luck to be live at! Days after that we went back home and locked ourselves down… And we are still there.
I feel grateful though; I can’t think of a better place to have our only in-person live projection, being able to share with colleagues and audiences. […] It was beautiful to remember this strange year it has passed. Of course, our most beloved memories of it are from Berlin.

Martina Matzkin – Director of ‘El nombre de Hijo’

Berlinale was a great breakthrough for the film around the globe, during weird times… The movie is still traveling, this is so important for our LGBTQ+ community. It means a lot!!! […]
Also the movie was presented on many special screenings involving the Transgender Community in Brazil, and for Educational propose.

Diana Moro – Producer of Alice Júnior

From live to online – what changes does that bring to the movies?

Despite Covid-19, many of the 2020 TEDDY films were screened at numerous film festivals around the world, albeit mostly online.

We are quite happy with ‘The Twentieth Century’, though the pandemic has been hard for the movie industry, and especially arthouse films. Festivals tried to adapt as quickly as possible by switching online, which is a good thing because it keeps the circuit open, though the collective experience of screenings is not the same.  

Marc Nauleau – Producer of ‘The Twentieth Century’

During this last year, we have been virtually traveling with our short film all around the world: Argentina, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, US, UK, Albania, the Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, Estonia, Chile… And we plan on continuing the trip! It was amazing being able to share our piece with such diverse audiences. We are thrilled by all this!

Martina Matzkin – Director of ‘El nombre de Hijo’

Extractions seemed to do well at festivals […]. I found even virtually attending festivals to be difficult during times the programs were geolocked to certain regions. At the same time I got a lot of positive feedback about the film, and was able to participate in panels and discussions through zoom, which was really lovely. I think that film was a uniquely suited medium for switching to online presentations. However it can quickly get overwhelming to be watching films on a little computer screen all year. 

Thirza Cuthand – Director of ‘Extractions’

While some films can be transferred relatively well from the cinema to the computer screen, other filmmakers do not see virtual film presentation as an adequate alternative that does justice to the film. Nicolaas Schmidt reports resignedly on his film Inflorescence:

Knowing that Inflorescence, like most of my works, was produced for cinema and lives from its special experiences, I had a hard time with the decision to make the film available online. (It felt like a betrayal of my work and my own person).

Nicolaas Schmidt – Director of ‘Inflorescene’

 

Heinz Emigholz is also struggling with the screening of his film ‘Die letzte Stadt’. He is waiting for cinemas to re-open.

The theatrical release was planned for December 2020, then postponed to February and is now further standby. The online release is not an alternative for us now, we wait until the cinemas open again. Even if some festivals took place online, the visibility of the film through Covid-19 is much lower, festivals are otherwise the multiplier for the films of Heinz Emigholz.

Frieder Schlaich – Producer of ‘Die letzte Stadt’

How to make movies during a pandemic

How does filmmaking work under Covid-19? These filmmakers report on both current and upcoming projects.


Thirza Cuthand
about the shooting and the unusual editing via Zoom:

The last film I made last year was a short drama featuring special effects, stunts, and driving. And VFX. We were lucky to be able to shoot in a small window when the case numbers of COVID were very low, before the September second wave began. I was not sure how editing would go, but we made it work remotely through a lot of zoom sessions with screen sharing between the editor, myself, and the producer. […] It was a very strange way to make a film but the fact we were able to shoot it still was pretty awesome. This year the films I am working on are either still in the script stage, or are very experimental and I will be the only crew person filming things around my neighbourhood.

Thirza Cuthand – Director of ‘Extractions’


Heinz Emigholz
works simultaneously on several films and an exhibition:

Last week we started shooting his latest film ‘Schlachthäuser der Moderne’ in Berlin, which we want to continue in Bolivia and Argentina from April. Due to the pandemic, this probably won’t work out, so we are preparing for a postponement.

So there is an ideal and an economic loss, but so far this has not been able to stop us from continuing to develop and produce projects.

Frieder Schlaich – Producer of ‘Die letzte Stadt’


Martina Matzkin
also uses the lockdown period effectively:

As for our future plans, we had to stop the shooting of our first feature-length documentary. But we expect to start again soon. In the meantime, we have had the time to revisit the shot material and to develop new projects. We have even had the luck to be at online development labs and workshops… We have no plans to stop making films!

Martina Matzkin – Director of ‘El nombre de Hijo’

 

We wish all filmmakers the best for their future projects and films. Hang in there! We are incredibly excited and look forward to seeing what you have to offer.

On top of the cake you can watch these video statements from more of our fantastic filmmakers last year:

https://vimeo.com/showcase/8180348

If you want to know more about the situation of the film industry, production and filmmakers, feel free to click through the the following links. There is so much to discover!

–> like the TEDDY Talk – A look back to the future March 3rd 4pm
–>basically all of our amazing talks TEDDY TALKS 2021

TEDDY TODAY: Friday 21st of February

Yesterday the starting signal was already given with “Las Mil Y Una”. We hope you all had a good start into the Berlinale. Today is the first day that several films will be shown in one day. The most difficult decision today will be to decide which film to go to, as all films are very promising.
But don’t worry, you can find all information about the films on our website. There you will find information such as film descriptions, biographies of the directors and screening data of the films.

Kød & Blod
19:00 Zoopalast 1

After her mother’s death, Ida moves in with her aunt and cousins. Theirs is a loving family, but it soon transpires that the clan is engaged in criminal activities. A female driven exploration of family conflict fuelled by affection and cut-throat ethics.

 

Kokon
19:30 Urania

Nora grows through observation. Always at her big sister’s side, she drifts around the housing blocks and sees people being in love, being high, spiteful and tender. When Nora meets Romy, she suddenly feels trapped in her own skin, and she starts to recognize her true self.

 

Always Amber
21:30 CinemaxX 3

Amber belongs to a queer generation which no longer wants to allow society to dictate their identity. The teenagers proudly inhabit a spectrum of fluid identities and master their first loves and losses.