When I think about Fassbinder, I don’t think about Germany but about Kraut Rock because Rainer Werner began for me with Tocotronic. Despair heißt auch eine Reise ins Licht*, sang Dirk Lowtzow once. Despair is also a journey into the light. Does despair thus finally lead to the light, to enlightenment? Or is the way to enlightenment, which lets us realize and in makes us desperate? All in all Lowtzow gave no answer.
Category Archives: Blog
Udo Kier – A perfect piece of art
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.
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!