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Jury TEDDY AWARD 2023

We’re happy to announce the 37th TEDDY AWARD’s jury. Six renowned film- and festivalmakers are going to choose from this Berlinale’s queer movies, awarding the Best Feature Film and Best Short Film , Best Documentary/Essay Film and TEDDY Jury Award with a TEDDY AWARD.

Alfonso F. Escandón

Alfonso F. Escandón (pronouns he/him)

Festival Mix México
Subdirector

Alfonso F. Escandón was born in Mexico City and has been vice director, since 2005, of Festival MIX Mexico – Film and Sexual Diversity. He´s got a degree in Communication Sciences from the “Tecnológico de Monterrey” University and has diplomas in Film Direction and Screenwriting. He´s worked in the production area of ​​films by Luis Vélez, Jaime Aparicio, Julián Hernández, Roberto Fiesco, Ramón Cervantes, among others. Under his heteronym Constantino Escandón, he has written and directed the short films: The Raven, based on the poem by Edgar A. Poe (2000); The Lonely  (2005); Anonymous (2006); Lucio (2006); Philia (2007); in 2008 he adapted the poem “Ma prison” by Paul Verlaine, to make the short film of the same name and in 2009 he made the short film “Cerro de la Cruz” (with the support of the Mexican Institute of Cinematography) that was part of the “Onde” section of the 27th Torino Film Festival; he recently wrote and directed the feature film But infinite love will ascend in my soul (work in progress). Under his heteronym Celadón, he was the Director of Photography for the feature films: Torments (2008) by Alfredo Valencia, produced by Jaime Humberto Hermosillo and Someone else’s skin (work in progress) by Arturo Castelán. He has published two photography books: Male Emancipation Vol.1 – Sensation, and Male Emancipation Vol.2 – Melancholy, based on the poems of the same names by Arthur Rimbaud and Rubén Darío, respectively; his work has been exhibited both in Mexico and Spain.   

Darunee Terdtoontaveedej (pronouns she/they)

CinemAsia Film Festival
&
Singapore International Film Festival

Curator and Programmer

Darunee Terdtoontaveedej is a curator and cultural programmer based in The Hague. Formerly trained as an architect and designer, Terdtoontaveedej is interested in the intersection of alternative (his)stories, creative practices, and cinema. She is a co-founder of Non Native Native, a cultural platform which looks into the Asian creative landscape in the Netherlands through the lens of outsiders from within. She has programmed at festivals and institutions such as CinemAsia Film Festival (Amsterdam), International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), Sinema Transtopia (Berlin), Objectifs Centre for Photography and Film (Singapore), and Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF).  

Melanie Iredale

Melanie Iredale (pronouns she/her)

Birds’ Eye View
Director

Melanie Iredale is a film curator and agitator. Melanie was recently appointed as Director of Birds’ Eye View – a UK-wide charity with a mission to champion women & non-binary-led films, to build a community for them through its #ReclaimTheFrame project, and to advocate for equity in all film spaces.   Prior to this, Melanie was Deputy Director at Sheffield DocFest 2014-2021, leading on the development of its arts/interactive programme and co-programmer of its Rhyme & Rhythm strand, and before that served as Director of Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival 2009-2014, commissioning moving image art and performances that went on to win awards at International Film Festival Rotterdam and beyond.    Melanie has served on several juries including Nordisk Panorama in Sweden, ZagrebDox in Croatia, and Colombo International Women’s Film Festival in Sri Lanka. She is a proud Exec Producer of Harri Shanahan and Siân A.  Williams’ archive documentary Rebel Dykes, which has brought the queer, ally, and activist communities together at over 50+ festivals around the world.   

Sasha Prokopenko

Sasha Prokopenko (pronouns she/her)

Kyiv International Short Film Festival
Head of Programming

Sasha Prokopenko is a programmer, film curator and translator based in Kyiv, Ukraine. Sasha is a Head of Programming at the Kyiv International Short Film Festival. Since 2018, she’s been one of the curators of the Sexuality Matters section, focused on LGBTQIA+ rights, women’s rights, gender identity and sex positivity. Sasha also curates the Teen Screen section at the Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival. Since 2016, she has worked at the independent film distribution company, KyivMusicFilm, that distributes films on art, music and culture.  

Tom Oyer

Tom Oyer (pronouns he/him)

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Senior Vice President, Member Relations, Global Outreach and Awards Administration

Tom Oyer is the Senior Vice President of Member Relations, Global Outreach and Awards Administration at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, focusing on awards eligibility, submissions and voting.  As part of the Academy’s global outreach efforts, he has led presentations at such film festivals as Annecy, Cartagena, Docaviv, Doc Edge, Guadalajara, and the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.  Additionally, Oyer has been featured on panels at DOC NYC, Palm Springs, Sheffield and SXSW and juries at Cleveland, Dallas, Hot Docs and Mountainfilm festivals.  Over the past 15 years at the Academy, Oyer has grown to oversee awards rules, the Animation, Documentary and Short Film categories and the Producers Branch.  He also helped to lead the Academy’s A2020 membership diversity initiative and the modernization of voting processes, including efforts to ensure global member participation through the launch of the Academy Screening Room, the Academy’s viewing platform.  

Xena Scullard

Xena Scullard (pronouns she/her)

The Queer Feminist Film Festival
Co-Founder and Convenor

Xena Scullard is a queer feminist activist, organiser and strategist. Xena has over a decade worth of experience working with queer and justice movements both locally within her context in SouthAfrica but also regionally and internationally. Xena is one of three co-founders and convenors of the first Queer Feminist Film Festival (QFFF) in South Africa which hosted it very first festival in 2018. QFFF consciously seeks to politicize intersectionality within our content curation and the ways in which we engage dialogue and art as a disruptive and generative tool for queer humans by queer humans. As a Senior Racial Equity Fellow under the Atlantic Fellows network, her work attempts tounearth and amplify the intersections between race, gender and justice. Xena currently works as an independent consultant with justice based organizations both regionally andinternationally. Xena’s work centers creative disruption, artistic strategy and situated solidarity building.   

News 2017, Teddy 2017

The jury of the MÄNNER reader´s award 2017

This year we will have again the MÄNNER reader´s award at the TEDDY AWARD, which will be presented by the readers´s jury and is endowed with a prize money of 1000 Euro, which should be used by the filmmakers to push new film projects forward.

From a huge selection of candidacies there were four character heads chosen, which you can have a look at here.

The prize of the MÄNNER-jury got named HARVEY, after one of the most important activists of the LGBTI history, Harvey Milk.

The AWARD CEREMONY takes place at Friday, 17.02.2017. The Award Ceremony starts at 21:00 & the After Show Lounge & TEDDY BACKSTAGE PARTY starts at 23:00

News 2015, Teddy 2015

MEET THE JURY : MUFFIN HIX

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Name: Muffin Hix
Country: USA
Festivals: BFI Flare London LGBT Film Festival, Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Festival

Muffin_Hix_headshot

How do you like Berlin? What is special about the city for you?

I’ve only ever been to Berlin in the Winter – I really must get here in the Summer sometime to really experience the city! But even with a mad festival schedule, and the freezing cold, I always find ways of exploring the city’s little corners, galleries and the revolving nightlife. What is that bar with pink fur covering the walls? I remember walking in there for the first time and thinking “YES!”

How would you describe the Berlinale in one sentence?

The Berlinale is the big, wintry bear hug in the festival year where you’re as likely to catch up with old friends as you are to see your film of the year.

What was your first encounter with the TEDDY AWARD?

I first started following the TEDDY in 2010, and then really got to see what it was all about when I came to the Berlinale for the first time in 2011. Traveling with this little tribe around all the screenings and joining in with the queer programmers meeting – it gave me an instant home within the Berlinale, which can be a little (a lot) intimidating the first time.

In your eyes, what does the TEDDY AWARD symbolize? What does it stand for? What makes it unique?

The TEDDY AWARD is a means to support and recognize the artistry and courage in these films that capture the personal and political of the LGBTQIA experience in our world. It’s about acting on what’s happening right now and not losing our (once so elusive) queer heritage. The films that we’ll get to see will go from here, from this recognition of even being acknowledged, all over the world. The TEDDY AWARD can be such a powerful symbol of acceptance and importance that can change the lives of the filmmakers, but most of all, can reach millions of others out there. And being part of this jury is equally important for us. It says that we’re on the right track to doing something important in our  communities.

Tell us about a movie you’ve recently seen.

Sometimes when you’re programming, you just watch so many films on a tiny screen with your headphones that it’s hard to actually go to the cinema with friends and see a film in a wholly indulgent way. But it is so important – it’s that coming together in the dark to be totally transported into another world that makes cinema so magical.

Last week I went to one of my favorite East London cinemas, the Genesis, and saw Whiplash. The cinema has a small screen just full of big comfy sofas – it’s such a luxury to get tucked up and see a film that keeps you gripped (laughing, crying, screaming!) from start to finish. If anyone had tried to convince me that watching the training of a young jazz student would keep me on the edge of my seat, I would never have believed them. But I’m a convert now!