FEATURE TEDDY AWARDS
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Ashamed
Speck, even though they are generally being handed out to fi lm-makers with little interna- tional profi le. Swinton and Javier Bardem, how- ever, have given out awards in years past, and the gala and its after-party are a hot ticket for festival attendees, gay and straight.
‘A little revenge’ Having previously taken over famous Berlin ven- ues such as The Metropol and the Congress Center, the 25th anniversary gala and after-party will be held in the main hall of Tempelhof Air- port, with German opera singer Jochen Kowalski and transgender star Romy Haag performing. South African HIV/Aids activist Pieter-Dirk Uys will receive a Special Teddy. “It’s a dream of mine for many years that we conquer that place,” declares Speck. “It’s this amazing space and Nazi structure and I always feel like one has to take over the leftovers of the Nazis, drive the spirits out and put other spirits in. Take a little revenge!” Confirmed films vying for the $3,900 (¤3,000) prize this year include Ashamed, from
TEDDY: BEST FEATURE
2010 The Kids Are All Right, Lisa Cholodenko
2009 Raging Sun, Raging Sky, Julian Hernandez
2008 The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela, Olaf de Fleur
2007 Spider Lilies, Zero Chou
2006 The Blossoming Of Maximo Oliveros, Auraeus Solito
2005 A Year Without Love, Anahi Berneri 2004 Wild Side, Sébastien Lifshitz
The Kids Are All Right ■ 30 Screen International in Berlin February 11, 2011
2003 A Thousand Clouds Of Peace, Julian Hernandez
2002 Walking On Water, Tony Ayres
2001 Hedwig And The Angry Inch, John Cameron Mitchell
2000 Water Drops On Burning Rocks, Francois Ozon
1999 Fucking Amal, Lukas Moodysson 1998 Hold You Tight, Stanley Kwan 1997 All Over Me, Alex Sichel
1996 The Watermelon Woman, Cheryl Dunye
1995 The Last Supper, Cynthia Roberts
1994 Go Fish, Rose Troche 1993 Wittgenstein, Derek Jarman
1992 Together Alone, PJ Castellaneta 1991 Poison, Todd Haynes 1990 Coming Out, Heiner Carow
1989 Fun Down There, Roger Stigliano; Looking For Langston, Isaac Julien
1988 The Last Of England, Derek Jarman
1987 Law Of Desire, Pedro Almodovar
The Mountain
South Korea’s Kim Soo-hyun and The Mountain from Norway’s Ole Giaever, as well as a raft of documentaries (the focus of this year’s awards is homophobia and hate crimes). For previous win- ners, the Teddy holds huge signifi cance, both in personal and industry terms. “The fi lm got distri- bution, went to other festivals and made its money back thanks to the Teddy,” says Olaf de Fleur, writer-director of 2008 winner The Amaz- ing Truth About Queen Raquela. “The award gives me confi dence that all the weird ideas I have in my head are perhaps not so weird.” Auraeus Solito, who won the best feature
Teddy in 2006 for The Blossoming Of Maximo Oliveros, also says the award was a boost. “We got our British distributor, Peccadillo, after the awards,” Solita says. “I was also on the front page in the papers back home in the Philip- pines. It contributed to the focus and respect for the new wave of independent fi lms in the Philippines.” In terms of gay-themed programming at the Berlinale, awards attendance and press cover-
‘The film got distribution, went to other festivals and made its money back thanks to
the Teddy’ Olaf de Fleur, director of 2008 Teddy winner The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela
age, the Teddy awards have expanded massively in 25 years. They are still the only LGBT award handed out by a major festival, with Speck’s original mission unchanged from 1987: to expose gay, lesbian and transgender cinema to the world, still an important goal when homo- sexuality remains taboo or a crime in many cul- tures. With LGBT fi lm-makers now emerging in countries where previously none existed, there is a new shape to the landscape, and the Teddy awards are throwing their weight behind set- ting up gay and lesbian fi lm festivals in cities such as St Petersburg, Sarajevo and Jakarta. Four years ago, Speck programmed the fi rst
gay-themed title from South Korea — No Regret by Leesong Hee-il. “It was immediately acknowledged here in Berlin as something important, and they loved that back in Korea,” Speck says. “But before, they wouldn’t even talk about the fact this fi lm exists. If a gay fi lm gets acknowledged, all of a sudden people will say, ‘This also exists.’ You have to seduce people into taking part.”
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