This year’s Special TEDDY AWARD goes to the director and playwright Falk Richter.

“For the emancipatory work of the performing arts, Falk Richter’s theatre has produced the most convincing contemporary works. The combination of aesthetic and analytical communication, with the prominent inclusion of works by video artists such as Chris Kondek, Michel Auder and Björn Melhus, also contributes to the inspiration of current film-making.The TEDDY Foundation awards the Special TEDDY AWARD to Falk Richter as an activist from whom we hope to receive lasting impulses for the future of queer and cosmopolitan cinema”. Wieland Speck Chairman of the TEDDY Foundation 

Falk Richter (*1969) is one of the most important contemporary theatre directors and playwrighters. His plays are all highly topical and are performed in more than 35 languages worldwide. For over two decades his texts have been staged on the most renowned international and national stages, such as the Festival d’Avignon, Toneelgroep Amsterdam, Burgtheater Vienna, Théâtre National de Bruxelles, Königliches Dramaten Stockholm, Melbourne Theatre Compagny, Schauspielhaus Zürich, Salzburger  Festspiele, Théatre National Strasbourg, Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Schaubühne Berlin, Maxim Gorki Theater and the Ruhrtriennale.

His most famous and successful texts include “Gott ist ein DJ”, “Electronic City”, “Unter Eis”, “TRUST”, “FEAR” and “Je suis Fassbinder”. With the production “Am Königsweg” (2017) by Elfriede Jelinek, Falk Richter and the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg were invited to the Berlin  Theatertreffen, the most important contemporary meeting of theatres in the German-speaking world.

The specialist journal “Theater heute” voted Falk Richter “Director of the Year” in 2018. At the beginning of 2019, Falk Richter received the highest French cultural award from the French government and was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.