Tag Archives: TEDDY AWARD

TEDDY TODAY, Wednesday, June 09

The Berlinale Summer Special has finally arrived and what better time to celebrate our wonderful LGBTQ+ films and artists than during pride month! Starting today and running until the 20th of June 2021, all films nominated for a TEDDY 2021 will be screened in open-air cinemas around Berlin!

“GLÜCK”, Regie: Henrika Kull, Deutschland, 2021
PREMIERE, 21:30h, Freiluftkino Kreuzberg

Breaking the ice on the first day of festival is the feature BLISS (original title: GLÜCK) directed by the wonderful Henrika Kull! Shot in a real brothel, the film breaks down the negative stereotypes and stigma associated with sex work through the passionate relationship of two female sex workers. More details about the film and other screening dates can be found on our BLOG. Watch the full interview with Henrika Kull here:

LUZ DE PRESENCA“, Regie: Diogo Costa Amarante, Portugal, 2021,
PREMIERE, 21:45h, Freiluftkino Hasenheide

We just can’t get enough of this buzzing festival atmosphere that was so dearly missed! Screening today is a delightful short film directed by Diogo Costa Amarante: A PRESENT LIGHT (original title: “Luz de Presença”). Save the dates: 09.06. / 21:45 / Freiluftkino Hasenheide 10.06. / 21:45 / Freiluftkino im Filmrauschpalast Don’t miss out on the other screenings taking place today on our BLOG .Catch Amarante discussing his idea for the film on Vimeo:

Diogo Costa Amarante in conversation with Jan-Felix Wuttig

DAS MÄDCHEN UND DIE SPINNE“, Director: Ramon Zürcher,
Switzerland 2021
PREMIERE, 22.15h, Sommerkino Kulturforum

Over the course of two days and one night, as Lisa moves out of the apartment she has shared with Mara and into the one where she will live alone, many things will break and some will be repaired.
Like the titular spider’s web, the film has a perfect, fragile geometry. Set almost entirely in interiors, it is also an involuntary summary of the paradoxical age of the pandemic. The transition from one abode to another, and the energy that is released between one story ending and another beginning, puts the entire ensemble into an altered state of grace.
…read more

© Beauvoir Films

STOP ZEMLIA“, Director: Kateryna Gornostai, Ukraine 2021
PREMIERE, 21:30h, Freiluftkino Rehberge

“They say when you get goosebumps, your soul touches your body.”

It‘s Masha, Iana and Senia‘s last but one year of high school. Among the thriving pot plants in the classroom and to the sound effects of a Biology lesson about physical signs of stress, the young protagonists grapple with themselves and with one another. 16-year-old Masha is the quiet center of Kateryna Gornostai’s feature debut. …read more

Maria Fedorchenko © Oleksandr Roshchyn

THE NOMINEES 2021

Das Mädchen und die Spinne

Director: Ramon Zürcher & Silvan Zürcher, Switzerland, 2021 

© Beauvoir Films

09.06. / 22:15 Sommerkino Kulturforum
11.06. / 22:00 Freiluftkino im Filmrauschpalast

Over the course of two days and one night, as Lisa moves out of the apartment she has shared with Mara and into the one where she will live alone, many things will break and some will be repaired.
Like the titular spider’s web, the film has a perfect, fragile geometry. Set almost entirely in interiors, it is also an involuntary summary of the paradoxical age of the pandemic. The transition from one abode to another, and the energy that is released between one story ending and another beginning, puts the entire ensemble into an altered state of grace… mehr

Glück

Director: Henrika Kull, Germany, 2021

Katharina Behrens, Adam Hoya
© Flare Film

09.06. / 21:30 Freiluftkino Kreuzberg
10.06. / 21.30 Freiluftkino Friedrichshagen

Alternating between waiting in the break room, having sex and lining up for the next john: Maria, a self-confident Italian in her mid-twenties, is new to the Berlin brothel where Sascha has been working for a long time. With her tattoos, her piercings and her penchant for writing poetry in a notebook during breaks, she is quite different from the others. The two women are immediately attracted to each other. Maria keeps her cash in a locker in the Berlin State Library. She regularly assures her father on the phone that she is doing well and earning a lot of money. For Sascha, the regional train connects her not only with her old life in provincial Brandenburg but also with her 11-year-old son… more

Guzen to sozo

Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Japan, 2021

© 2021 Neopa/Fictive

15.06. / 19:00 Freiluftkino Museumsinsel
16.06. / 22:00 ARTE Sommerkino Schloss Charlottenburg
17.06. / 22:00 Frischluftkino@Studentendorf

Moon, 66 Questions

Director: Jacqueline Lentzou, Greece / France, 2021

© Berlinale

15.06. / 22:15 Sommerkino Kulturforum
16.06. / 22:00 Frischluftkino@Studentendorf

When a grave illness strikes down her father Paris, Artemis decides to return home to Greece after an absence of some years. Being the sole child of divorced parents, she is the only one who can look after Paris, who requires daily care. Father and daughter embark on a journey into knowledge and revelation, which heralds a new beginning for their relationship… more

The Scary of Sixty-First

Director: Dasha Nekrasova, USA, 2020

© Stag Pictures

19.06. / 22:15 Sommerkino Kulturforum
20.06. / 22:00 Frischluftkino@Studentendorf

In this feature debut by actor and podcast host Dasha Nekrasova, two mismatched roommates discover and relive the murky secrets of their new Upper East Side apartment. The film is as possessed as one of its protagonists: while she finds herself being taken over by the spirits of paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s young victims, the film itself is haunted by Italian “giallo” movies and 1970s psychological horror… more

DOCUMENTARY / ESSAYFILM

Esquí

Director: Manque La Banca, Argentina / Braszil, 2021

© Manque La Banca

There’s a monster in the Nahuel Huapi Lake. In the twilight, it spreads itself out across the surface of the water like a taut cowhide, grasping at its victims with sharp claws. Another monster also lurks in the surroundings of the lake, which is close to Bariloche in the Argentine Andes. It is called Capa Negra: the Black Cape. It haunts the ski slopes by night and should be avoided at all costs.
Monsters from the legends of the Mapuche find their way into Manque La Banca’s feature-length debut Esquí via various twists and turns. Once there, they interact with the film’s other characters… more

Genderation

Director: Monika Treut, Germany, 2021

© Salzgeber

10.06. / 21:30 Freiluftkino Kreuzberg
17.06. / 21:45 Freiluftkino Biesdorfer Parkbühne

Monika Treut’s Gendernauts was one of the first films to portray the transgender movement in San Francisco. Twenty years after the film screened in Panorama in 1999, Treut seeks out the pioneers of that time. What has changed? How have the lives of the protagonists evolved? San Francisco was once, as Annie Sprinkle puts it, the “clitoris of the USA”, but today the tech industry has a firm grip on the city. Aggressive gentrification has displaced the genderqueer community of yesteryear. Under the Trump administration, hard-won transgender rights are under massive pressure… more

Instructions for Survival

Director: Yana Ugrekhelidze, Germany, 2021

© Yana Ugrekhelidze

13.06. / 21:45 Freiluftkino Hasenheide
15.06. / 21:45 Freiluftkino Friedrichshagen

Alexander’s transgender identity means he is obliged to lead a life of secrecy in his home country. Being identified as “female” in his passport means he cannot legally find work, either. Since even a visit to the doctor is a risk for him, he has begun hormone therapy to transition on his own with support from internet forums and the local transgender community. Desperate to escape their hopeless situation and leave the country, Alexander’s wife Mari decides to become a surrogate mother for 12,000 dollars. But their ostensibly pragmatic plan backfires… more

Miguel’s War

Director: Eliane Raheb, Lebanon / Germany / Spain, 2021

© ITAR productions

16.06. / 21:30 Freiluftkino Kreuzberg
19.06. / 21:45 Freiluftkino Pompeji

In this portrait that is multi-layered both in terms of form and content, a gay man confronts the ghosts of his past and explores hidden longings, unrequited love and tormenting feelings of guilt. Miguel was born in 1963 to a conservative, Catholic Lebanese father and an authoritarian mother from a wealthy Syrian family. Numerous conflicts over his national, religious and sexual identity compelled him to flee to Spain in his early twenties. In post-Franco Madrid where he lived an openly gay existence, his life resembled one long Almodóvarian orgy, full of excess and sexual taboo-breaking. This was followed first by a collapse and then a new beginning… more

North By Current

Director: Angelo Madsen Minax, USA, 2021

© Angelo Madsen Minax

17.06. / 21:45 Freiluftkino Kreuzberg

Three years after the unexplained death of his niece Kalla, artist and filmmaker Angelo Madsen Minax returns to his Mormon family’s home in the small town in Michigan where his father’s sawmill is located. His sister Jesse, who had found temporary stability as a mother after a difficult youth and addiction problems, is suspected by the authorities of being responsible, along with her partner David, for the death of their daughter Kalla… more

SHORT FILM

Blastogenese X

Director: Conrad Veit & Charlotte Maria Kätzl, Germany, 2020

  © Veit/Kätzl

11.06. / 21:45 Freiluftkino Hasenheide
12.06. / 21:45 Freiluftkino im Filmrauschpalast

Looking like a rediscovered film reel from the early days of cinema and with its “animal drag” costumes, this Dadaist nature documentary imagines a utopia where any and all life forms are equal. Fabulous creatures that defy the binary classification of male and female and the division between… more

International Dawn Chorus Day

Director: John Greyson, Canada, 2021

Dieses Bild hat ein leeres Alt-Attribut. Der Dateiname ist 202100327_1-1024x576.jpg
  © Kalil Haddad

15.06. / 21:45 Freiluftkino Hasenheide
16.06. / 21:45 Freiluftkino Pompeji

On International Dawn Chorus Day (May 3, 2020), birds from six continents join an online video call. They gossip about storms and cats and wires and dates. They share speculations about Egyptian filmmaker Shady Habash, known for his satirical anti-dictator music videos, who died the day before in Cairo’s notorious Tora prison. They talk about Egyptian queer activist Sarah Hegazi, famously incarcerated for flying a rainbow flag at a Cairo concert, now living as a political refugee in Toronto. They don’t realise that… more

Les Attendants

Director: Truong Minh Quý, France / Singapore, 2020

Dieses Bild hat ein leeres Alt-Attribut. Der Dateiname ist 202106201_1-1024x576.jpg
Gérard Thomas & Jean-François Geneste
© Truong Minh Quý – Le Fresnoy

14.06. / 21:45 Freiluftkino Hasenheide
15.06. / 21.45 Freiluftkino Pompeji

In mining, a slag heap refers to an artificially raised hill consisting of the cleared waste that accumulates during the extraction of raw materials. Birch trees now grow where workers from near and far once went underground to labour hard for very little money. Nowadays, this is a place where men meet to have anonymous sex and share moments of intimacy… more

Luz de Presença

Director: Di Diogo Costa Amarante, Portugal, 2021

Dieses Bild hat ein leeres Alt-Attribut. Der Dateiname ist 202101131_1-1024x553.jpg
Diana Neves Silva © O Verde do Jardim

09.06. / 21:45 Freiluftkino Hasenheide
10.06. / 21:45 Freiluftkino im Filmrauschpalast

One rainy night, Gonçalo sets off to give his lost love one last letter. “Beware of the slippery road!” warns Diana from the street corner. In vain. An accident that is both an end and a beginning… more

More Happiness

Director: Livia Huang, USA, 2021

Dieses Bild hat ein leeres Alt-Attribut. Der Dateiname ist 202109877_1-1024x620.jpg
Joyce Keokham, Tina Wonglu © Livia Huang

11.06. / 21:45 Freiluftkino Hasenheide
12.06. / 21:45 Freiluftkino im Filmrauschpalast

During a conversation late at night, a woman asks her mother how to be a good person. As they talk, the woman thinks about an old lover. Seasons change and memories accumulate that bring no respite… more

 

The TEDDY Jury 2021

We are happy to announce this years TEDDY AWARD Jury. This year, three well-known filmmakers and festival organisers will select the winners in the categories of Best Feature Film and Best Short Film from the nominated queer films from the Berlinale, and will present the TEDDY Jury Award.

 

Sylvie Cachin_fotoCredit_© Karine Bénard
Sylvie Cachin_fotoCredit_© Karine Bénard

Sylvie Cachinis a film director whose award-winning films enjoyed success at numerous festivals before she joined Everybody’s Perfect – Geneva International Queer Film Festival as the artistic and general director in 2017. With a university education in art history, history and Italian language and literature (in Switzerland, Rome and Paris) and a master’s degree in film (from Geneva), she has worked in her own company, Lunafilm, as a screenwriter, cinematographer, editor and producer. Driven by a sense of exploration and freedom, she is radically committed to auteur cinema and to queer and feminist gazes. Passionate about experiencing and sharing a wide range of artistic moments, her programming aims at offering a new magic every year.

Samuel Girma, curator in film and art
Samuel Girma, curator in film and art

Samuel Girma is a curator in film and art, a community organizer and an activist based in Stockholm. He is currently undertaking research for an upcoming experimental short film about James Baldwin’s queerness and launching a Black cultural space for film and art. Samuel is a co-founder of the anti-racist, intersectional and feminist platform, Black Queers Sweden. Born and raised in Ethiopia, he emigrated to Sweden at the age of 13, a move that has greatly affected his view on Blackness and the experiences accompanying migration. Much of Samuel’s work, art and writing is inspired by and focuses on the experiences of Black bodies.

Esma Akyel, director of Pink Life QueerFest Turkey
Esma Akyel, director of Pink Life QueerFest Turkey

Esma Akyelis a LGBTI+ and transfeminist activist from Turkey. They are the director of Pink Life QueerFest which was established in 2011 and is the first and only queer film festival in Turkey. The festival is organized by the Pink Life LGBTI+ Solidarity Association which is also the first and biggest trans self-organization group in Turkey. Esma is a board member of ERA – LGBTI Equal Rights Association for the Western Balkans and Turkey. They are also one of the curators of QueerFest Berlin. They have a master’s degree in media and visual studies from Bilkent University.

Writers’ Challenge: WINNER

No idea what film to watch as you are patiently counting down the minutes until our TEDDY Films 2021 will be screened in summer? That’s where our Writers’ Challenge 2021 winner comes in!

Krzysztof Dubicki writes about his favourite queer film AND THEN WE DANCED (2019), directed by Levan Akin.

“Cinema knows a lot of love stories with the art of dance as a beautiful background to the core of the human connection, passion and excitement. Where there are devotion and dedication there are emotions and feelings. Some of them – like love – can take us to the sky and some of them – like a heartache – can make us melancholic and full of grief.

Levan Akin tells a moving story of Merab and Irakli, two Georgian male dancers from the Georgian dance school and their passionate way to discover their feelings for each other. As a background to the love elation, the director shows us amazing images of Tbilisi, the country’s culture and family’s connection and respect for the country and the traditional Georgian dance, that makes this film so unique and graceful, but also really masculine and strong. Scenes, where this dance is being performed, are just a delight. Especially that they are spiced with the amazing sound of Georgian music, that takes a spectator to the journey inside the tradition and folklore.

Merab (played by amazingly good Levan Gelbakhiani) is intensively training with his girlfriend wannabe, Mary to get into the National Georgian Ensemble, being focused on his future and achieving perfection. His steady mindset is being interrupted by the arrival of Irakli (in this role a very charismatic and handsome Bachi Valishvili), who becomes not only his rival during the dance classes but also an object of Merab’s affection and distraction. The mix of sensuality and masculine energy of the dance brings boys together as they are both starting to discover the lust towards each other. Conservative climate of the country and approach towards LGBT communities in Georgia creates a lot of hate towards gay people. It pushes them, to hide their true identities and live their life the way they are expected to. Merab’s love for Irakli (which feels like his first-ever true love) helps him realize who he truly is. The intensity of feelings towards someone, who has become his secret lover brings a lot of excitement but also confusion and drama, that affect this young boy’s broken heart.

This film is a great and successful (24 awards and 21 nominations worldwide) representation of Queer cinema. Yes, it does have a bittersweet ending and for some, it might be a cliché of another dramatic and sad gay story, but these kinds of stories actually happen. Especially for the younger generation of people trying to find their true self in the world that is not accepting them. Akin’s world is full of cheerful and ‘Coming of Age’ moments, that works perfectly in this movie. With the mix of folk and pop soundtrack vibes and great acting full of chemistry and honesty, this piece is an extraordinary work from the hands of a true artist. Just like the dance, which is so easy to lose yourself, it is equally easy to get lost in the charm and magic of this irresistible story.” 

Congratulations to our winner Krzysztof for his wonderful film review!

Now you know which film to watch next. Check out the trailer below and see for yourselves…

The TEDDY Talks 2021

Finally, the program for the TEDDY Talks 2021 is all set! You can find all the information about all TEDDY TALKS and our daily livestreams from the 1st until the 5th of March below.

TEDDY TALKS LIVE from the TEDDY TV Studio
TEDDY TALKS LIVE from the TEDDY TV Studio

TIMETABLE

MONDAY March 1, 2021

14.00 THE SITUATION ROOM
Zsombor Bobák in conversation with Michael Stütz, Head of Panorama
-> watch it ON DEMAND

16.00 A DIRECTORS EXCHANGE: our role in writing queer history
Milica Tomović, director of Kelti, Monika Treut, director of Genderation and Eliane Raheb, director of Miguel’s War each take a unique approach to moments of queer history in their films, that not only look back but also forward to what that documentation in time means for our future. Each filmmaker deals with either social, personal or political aspects of (queer) history and sheds a light on- and changes/creates a queer narrative. How specific/individual and self-reflexive are those different approaches and do they, besides portraying of queer protagonists, offer universal options of life in opposition to heteronormativity?
Host: Kristian Petersen
-> watch it ON DEMAND

Panelists: Milica Tomović, Monika Treut, Eliane Raheb

 

TUESDAY March 2, 2021

14.00 THE SITUATION ROOM
Zsombor Bobák in conversation with filmmakers, festival organizers and producers 
-> watch it ON DEMAND

16.00 TEDDY Talk – From Live to Dial Up Content: Queer Films Festival Trajectories after moving online
With global lockdowns forcing many queer film festivals to adapt a community event that is made to bring people together, to one without a physical community. How has the path changed for Queer Film Festivals? In order to reflect on how this affected our audiences, our filmmakers and our organizations, an evaluation is required. Did having a wider online presence bring in more viewers and how does the introduction of online screening platforms influence the future of Queer Festival Programming? With the large network of Queer Film Festivals being often the sole distribution for many films, does the element of an online screening modify this network and will this platform be an integral part of our future?
Host: Bartholomew Sammut
-> watch it ON DEMAND

Panelists: Skadi Loist, Nick McCarthy, Sridhar Rangayan, Sylva Häutle, Muffin Hix, Jay Lin

 

WEDNESDAY March 3, 2021

14.00 THE SITUATION ROOM
Zsombor Bobák in conversation with filmmakers, festival organizers and producers 
-> watch talk ON DEMAND

16.00 TEDDY Talk – A look back to the future: Distribution Strategies in the wake of a Pandemic.
Looking back at a number of films that celebrated their premiers at the 70th Berlinale and how their distribution path changed in the wake of covid, global lockdowns and online festivals. From short films to features and documentaries, we speak with Producer Paulina Lorenz, Director Ray Yeung plus industry professionals María Vera from Kino Rebelde, Björn Koll from Salzgeber and Martin Gondre from Best Friend Forever to see how their initial plans changed after the Berlinale. What were the challenges and how did these film teams come together to navigate a strategy when making any sort of plans seemed impossible.
Host: Merle Groneweg
-> watch Panel ON DEMAND

Panelists: Paulina Lorenz, Ray Yeung, María Vera, Björn Koll, Martin Gondre

 

THURSDAY March 4, 2021

14.00 TEDDY SPECIAL – #ACTOUT AND BEYOND
Panel discussion of the Queer Media Society on visibility of queer actors in the media and in the public.
Host: Johannes Kram
-> watch Talk ON DEMAND

Panelists: Maren Kroymann, Mehmet Sözer, Nicola-Rabea Langrzik, Peter Schulze, Karimah El-Giamal

16.00 TEDDY Talk – Building A Nurturing Work Environment for Queer BIPOC Industry Executives
The film industry can be a minefield for those embodying intersectional identities. 2020 saw a myriad of public commitments to equity and inclusion, but what work has been done internally to ensure that these organizations are equipped to be safe spaces for their LGBTQ+ Black, Indigenous and POC staff and artists? Taking a queer lens to Iyabo Boyd’s provocation to Build A BIPOC Power Pipeline, this Teddy Talk invites industry stakeholders to share their insights on the barriers we face when it comes to succeeding in our roles and advancing our careers.
Host: Lucy Mukerjee
-> watch Talk ON DEMAND

Panelists: Bianca Quesada, Masashi Niwano, Campbell X, Andrea Coloma, Sekiya Dorsett

18.00 Queer Your Program: Online Speedy Film Pitches
The annual two minute pitching sessions will be moving online and offered to filmmakers whose films are ready for distribution. Open to programmers, distributors and sales agents; join in to find potentially your next opening night film. 
Host: Bartholomew Sammut

20.00 Queer Industry Reception goes Online
An annual gathering of industry professionals from the Queer Film Industry, from filmmakers to programmers, to distributors and sales agents. What normally happens in person with a wine in hand and nametags plastered on your shirt, this friendly networking event will now happen online. We shall once again come together as a community, connect and network, chat about the year we had, the films we look forward to and also to have a little drink and a touch of gaiety.
Host: Bartholomew Sammut

 

FRIDAY March 5, 2021

14.00 TEDDY SPECIAL – Invisible Threat – Similarities and Disparities of the COVID-19 pandemic and the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Two global public health crises, two invisible threats to human life. But in what ways compare the COVID-19 pandemic and the HIV/AIDS epidemic? What are the most striking differences? Is it ethical at all to compare the two? And what role can cinema and filmmakers play in tackling the harshest of realities brought by these viruses? Where do their responsibilities and political power lie? A conversation about visibility, power, trauma, memory, and film activism.
Host: Zsombor Bobák
-> watch Talk ON DEMAND

Participants: Wieland Speck, John Greyson, Dr. Alexandra Juhasz

16.00 TEDDY Talk – Queering Common Space
A Debate on Visibility, (Un-)Safe Urban Spaces and the Everyday Archive with POLIGONAL Office for Urban Communication and guests In what ways are queerness and queer practices represented in urban everyday life? Is visibility the key to a more inclusive urban future? In the discourse on what kind of city we want to live in queer narratives tend to be underrepresented – with crucial voices remaining unheard. To discuss the power of archiving this talk brings together protagonists from the project QUEERING COMMON SPACE – a digital living archive collecting visual and acoustic representations and documentations of queer memories, encounters and stories from common (un-)safe spaces in the cities of Tbilisi and Berlin.
Host: Christian Haid, Lukas Staudinger
-> watch Panel ON DEMAND

Panelists: Liz Rosenfeld, David Apakidze, Nini Goderidze, Nancy Naser Al Deen, Tzeshi Lei

 Don´t forget to watch the videos

TEDDY TALKS LIVE from the TEDDY TV Studio

Wir freuen uns auf den Sommer!
Stay tuned & bleibt gesund bis dahin!

THANKS TO THIS YEARS PARTNERS AND SUPPORTERS OF
THE TEDDY TALKS

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