Madonna once called him a meanman. He plays his characters without any inhibition and a lot of passion. He is completely absorbed in his roles. Udo Kier, who never visited a classic drama school and is living in Palm Springs today, can look back on a 50 years career. We honor the man who phones his dogs, when he is travellling, with this year’s Special TEDDY AWARD.
Category Archives: Blog
Last Week in Review
Missed the last TEDDY-news? No time to check our daily updates on our blog and social media? Don’t worry! Here’s everything you shouldn’t have missed.
Berlinale is around the corner and the TEDDY team is assembling to plan the 29th edition of the TEDDY AWARD. Last week we moved into our office and supplied ourselves with large amounts of chocolate, fruits and coffee. Ready to go!
This year, as every year, there will be tons of great artists at the TEDDY AWARD. We are really proud to announce that Ingrid Caven will join us this year. Since the late seventies, she’s one of the biggest stars of chanson, often compared to Marlene Dietrich and Edith Piaf. Fans of the German band Tocotronic should also know her name, as the band has been closing their shows with her chanson „Die großen weißen Vögel“ for years.
Before Caven became a singer, she acted in many Rainer Werner Fassbinder movies. She was life-long friends with the director, they were even married for two years. She will perform a couple of her classics in a homage to the late Fassbinder. Fassbinder is also the face of our poster this year, which was painted by Rinaldo Hopf and designed by cabine.
Besides Ingrid Caven, we’re looking forward to the Vienna-based band POP:SCH, who will perform their anti-homophobia-anthem “shut up haters”. And, of course, the great Udo Kier will join us to accept his Special TEDDY AWARD.
A familiar face will join us again this year: Jochen Schropp will host the TEDDY AWARD for the fourth time. Yay!
Opening and closing party will take place at SchwuZ again. And it will be wild :)
Who, like us, can hardly wait for the TEDDY to begin and wants to read more can check out Sebastian waking up from a food coma and Audrey reporting on homophobia in Hollywood.
All the events are now online. Our website and blog will be updated with news about the program, the lazy ones can read the next Last Week in Review with all the important news.
See you next week!
Hollywood’s homophobic side
How intolerant is Hollywood towards gay and transsexual people? A survey* among thousands of Hollywood actors followed this question. The result shows a doleful picture of the dream factory.
Discrimination and homophobic comments are almost on the agenda in Hollywood. A survey from the University of Los Angeles shows that more than half of the LG actors already have heard anti-gay comments. 53% of LGBT respondents believe that directors and producers are biased against
LGBT performers. The big challenge with the role search, the fear of a career crease and a prejudiced role picture turn many actor’s coming out into a difficult undertaking in Hollywood.
However, the survey shows a positive development too.
53 percent of lesbian and gay actors come out to their fellow actors. The majority generally supports LGBT people playing heterosexual and non-transgender roles. For example, 80% of respondents agreed that transgender women should be considered for roles written for women and that transgender men should be considered for roles written for men. Although the most actors are open-minded towards their LGBT fellow actors, especially the dream factory’s persons in response are those who aren’t always tolerant towards gay and transsexual people.
* M.V. Lee Badgett, Jody L. Herman: ‘Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Diversity in Entertainment: Experiences and Perspectives of SAG-AFTRA’
Siesta for a start
The Teddy found himself between the years after all the family dinners with a serious case of siesta urgency. Only to start the first day of the new year with a hangover, oh, what do I say, Hangover III.
But now he is on the jump and ready to start into the film festival with refilled energy reserves! And energy it will need, also in this year. Because once again more than 40 movies with queer content will be screened at the Berlinale while several cultural events take place – and for sure the best parties of the festival cannot be left out! All information about the movies, the parties and the fiestas will be found on the Teddy homepage, while on this blog recent news and the TEDDY-Today pages will be published.
We wish all of you a lot of fun on our webpages and hope that siesta and hangover will be overcome until the start of the festival!
TEDDY Winner 2014
Yesterday night this year’s TEDDY AWARDS were given away in the Komische Oper Berlin. Here you will find all the winners, trailers and jury statements!
The TEDDY AWARD for the best feature film goes to:
HOJE EU QUERO VOLTAR SOZINHO, (The Way He Looks)
by Daniel Ribeiro, Brazil
Giovana is Leo’s best friend. They spend their afternoons at the pool, awarding points for the level of their boredom and just hanging out. Leo is rather self-contained; even his schoolmates’ barbs can’t dent his sense of his own independence. This blind fifteen-year old 
wants to take control of his own life. The arrival of a new pupil, Leo, at school prompts Leo to reassess his daily routine. As naturally as Leo becomes aware of his feelings for Gabriel, the more he allows himself to feel unsettled by his friend’s tentative advances. The winner of the 
2008 Crystal Bear has the protagonists of his first feature-length drama orbit each other in an emotional universe of fierce attractions.
Jury Statement: A joyous debut feature from a director who combines great writing, characterization, performance, camera, and music to deliver a film that soars above the well-explored coming of age genre, giving new meaning to the old adage ‘love is blind’.
The TEDDY AWARD for the best documentary/essay film goes to:
DER KREIS (The Circle)
by Stefan Haupt, Switzerland
Founded in the early 1940s, the network
around the magazine DER KREIS (’The Circle’) was the only gay organisation to survive the Nazi regime. Legendary masked balls in Zurich provided 800 visitors from all over Europe. It is there that timid teacher Ernst Ostertag falls in love with drag star Röbi Rapp. Ernst search
es for a way to fight for his gayness to be accepted as normal outside the boundaries of ‘The Circle’ network without losing his employment as a teacher.
Stefan Haupt’s new film uncovers the fascinating universe of one of the first gay liberation communities. Enriched by impressive conversational records with Ernst Ostertag and Röbi Rapp, the film depicts a decades-long love story.
Jury Statement: A film that reflects on personal Queer histories in mid-twentieth century Switzerland, brings to light the necessity and urgency to resist and engage with homophobia as it proliferates around the planet.
The TEDDY Award for the best short film goes to:
MONDIAL 2010
by Roy Dib, Lebanon
A Lebanese gay couple decides to take a road trip to Ramallah. The film is recorded with their camera as they chronicle their journey. The protagonists and the viewers are invited through the couple’s conversations into the universe of a fading city.
Jury Statement: A film that takes us on a journey, both literal and personal through a hazardous landscape where invisibility is a necessary aspect of Queer survival.
The Special Jury Award goes to:
PIERROT LUNAIRE
by Bruce LaBruce, Germany, Canada
A young woman that regularly dresses as 
a man falls in love and seduces a young girl that has no clue that her lover is of the same sex. When the girl introduces ‘her boyfriend’ to her father he becomes skeptical and unmasks the fraud.
Jury Statement: The Teddy Jury would like to recognize Bruce LaBruce’s important new piece Pierrot Lunaire as a significant addition to his oeuvre, that continues to explore the notion of ‘Queer’ in every sense. Melding theatricality with edgy cinematic language, a remarkable performance by Susanne Sachsse, with sophisticated use of music, Bruce recombines these elements to renew the classic avant-garde.
David Kato Vision and Voice Award for Sou Sotheavy
Cambodian transgender activist Sou Sotheavy has spent the last two decades working to establish a national network of organizations to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people across the country.
Special TEDDY AWARD for Elfi Mikesch
Elfi Mikesch is an author, photographer and filmmaker and, as one of the first camerawomen of her generation, a role model for a whole series of artists who followed. The oeuvre of this pioneer cannot be surpassed using conventional means. Elfi Mikesch is always looking for a challenge, exploring and transgressing boundaries. Her artistic method involves a dreamlike slowing of the gaze, fusing art and life in a fascinating symbiosis.Special TEDDY AWARD for Rosa von Praunheim
Rosa Von Praunheim is particularly well known for his pioneering 1970/71 film Nicht der Homosexuelle ist pervers, sondern die Situation, in der er lebt [It is not the homosexual who is perverse, but the society in which he lives] that played a crucial role in launching the gay and lesbian political movement, especially in West Germany. In making this group production, he demonstrated at an early stage of his career film’s considerable potential for bringing about social change. He wins audiences over with the wide range of direct emotions and social commitment portrayed in his films. The realism that characterises his works is radically open, honest and eccentric, provocative in a positive sense and excites and sharpens the senses.