General Information

History (Page 2)

1980
The head of the Berlinale International Film Festival (Berlinale) Moritz de Hadeln lured Manfred Salzgeber back to Berlin from Amsterdam in order to give the ‘Info-Schau’ (information section of the Berlinale) a new profile. Manfred was already legendary on the film scene as co-founder of the Forum for Young Film and the community cinema Arsenal as well as being a prominent activist in the gay rights movement. He directed his attention to reshaping the programme to include more films with a gay and lesbian content. The increasing success of his approach meant the Berlinale was, in this respect, ahead of its time. (Manfred died of AIDS in 1994).

1982
He appointed the filmmaker Wieland Speck to join him at his side. Wieland took over the Panorama (so named in 1986) section in 1992. Early on it became important for them to develop something which would bring people together after the film screenings.

1985 - 1989
The unforgettable ‘nightcafes’ took place in the gay bookshop Prinz Eisenherz. Filmmakers like Derek Jarman and Gus Van Sant met with interested members of the public after the last Panorama screenings to debate the films and also sometimes to watch films that found no place in the official programme. Here an international network was developed that was able to provide mutual business support throughout the year.

1987
It was here that the idea of a gay and lesbian film prize first saw the light of day: the TEDDY. The award was so named in reference to the main festival prize, the Golden Bear. The first TEDDY award for a feature film went to Pedro Almodóvar for The Law of Desire featuring Carmen Maura and, the then almost unknown, Antonio Banderas. The jury was made up of experts chosen by Wieland and Manfred from the Eisenherz meetings. They gave this open group the name International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Association (IGLFFA). The ‘mission statement’ was formulated then that the TEDDY should gain credence beyond the gay scene. The idea was to push gay and lesbian films out beyond their underground niche and increase awareness both within the film industry and with the general public.

1990
The first big prize giving party in Schwuz, Berlin with around 400 guests, arranged by BeV Stroganov and the ‘Eisenherzens’, included a queer show, short film screenings and a self-created prize for the winner.

1991
The first step in meeting its original mission began as the TEDDY went to the Kant Cinema, complete with adverts, posters and specially printed tickets available through advance sales.

1992
The Berlinale officially recognised the TEDDY prize and placed it in the public list of Berlinale prizes.
In the following years legendary Berlin events venues such as Haus der Kulturen der Welt and the Tempodrom close to Anhalter Bahnhof joined in the TEDDY celebrations.

1997
The development company TEDDY Foundation was formed to raise both money and publicity for the award throughout the year.
Meanwhile the prize money had grown to €3000. This money went to the winning filmmaker in order to help them with the financing of duplicates, subtitling or promotional materials for their film. Panorama boss and chairman of the TEDDY board Wieland Speck emphasised that “The post-production funding is as problematic as preproduction.”

TEDDY Jury
The TEDDY jury also changed. Since 1997 the number has stayed at nine, selected yearly from a pool of people involved in queer film festivals worldwide, or who are in other ways connected to the queer film industry. The jury decides over the best short, feature film and documentary or essay film. The awards and the connected prize-money are then provided by the TEDDY foundation and by its supporters.

Queer Film Award
At the start of the 80’s there were only a few gay films, mostly shorts, and the appearance of a feature film always caused a bit of a stir. Although the first lesbian films had begun to appear, lesbian films proper didn’t really begin until the 90’s. Since 1997 the inclusion of transgender themed films has also increased. Now trans themes and characters have become an integral part of the included films, but trans filmmakers are still a rarity. The TEDDY continually seeks to increase the participation and the publicity of and for trans-identified artists. Thus in recognition of this more inclusive approach in 2002 it became the Queer Film Award at the Berlinale. By general agreement the TEDDY is recognised as the only award for gay, lesbian and trans-identified films as part of a major international (and not explicitly queer) film festival. Dieter Kosslick, the head of the Berlinale since 2002, supports the TEDDY and, like Berlin’s Mayor Klaus Wowereit, is a much-loved guest at the TEDDY Awards ceremony.
 
 

2005
By this time the original mission statement had been largely satisfied with huge galas attended by over 4000 guests and participation from numerous TV stations and print media from around the world. The TEDDY Award had also become one of the three biggest queer events in Berlin and its fame has spread far and wide. But in keeping with the times, things had to be scaled down. So the TEDDY Awards 2005 became a smaller albeit more rigorously planned affair.

TEDDY Award TV
Since 2005 the TEDDY also has its own internet TV channel with www.teddyaward.tv which broadcasts 365 days a year. The website, which includes multi-lingual interviews, videos and background information on the films as well as the history of the TEDDY Award, has become an international forum for the queer community. That there is also a huge interest in the TEDDY award above the general attention given to the Berlinale is evidenced by the 80,000 visitors to www.teddyaward.tv.

2006
In February during the running of the Berlinale the TEDDY celebrated its 20th birthday with more than 330,000 hits to the TEDDY website, mostly from America and China.
And 20 years after its inception the award is still the only queer film prize within the confines of an A-list film festival.
Oscar winners such as Pedro Almodóvar and prize-winning artists such as Tilda Swinton, Greta Schiller, Andrea Weiss, Derek Jarman and Gus Van Sant are all TEDDY discoveries. Films with gay, lesbian and trans content have, as a result of the TEDDY, become an increasingly integral part of the Berlinale programme over the last two decades. Any film which advances a queer theme is considered relevant to the TEDDY Award. Presently there are around 40 films competing for the prize each year.

TEDDY on ARTE
For its 20th birthday the prize ceremony in E-Werk, Berlin was broadcast by the Franco-German cultural channel ARTE for the first time. With that the TEDDY award also took a moral stand, bravely speaking out on current political and social issues. The political content of the awards ceremony in 2006 included homophobia in Poland and the situation for gay, lesbian and trans folks in the young democracy, South Africa. Present at the ceremony were not only Berlin’s Mayor Klaus Wowereit, but also the Deputy Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa George Johannes (sporting a pink tie!). Their presence reinforces the political angle of the queer film prize.

2007
The TEDDY celebrates its coming of age. Under the heading ‘TEDDY Takes Offf’ the 21st awards ceremony will take place in the glamorous surroundings of Hangar2 in Tempelhof Airport, Berlin on the 16th of February 2007. For the second time ARTE will be broadcasting the proceedings on Sunday the 18th of February 2007. Also on the 16th of February alongside the ceremony ARTE dedicates a whole theme evening to the TEDDY award ‘Das Coming - out des Kinos’ (The Coming Out of Cinema), which will include the documentary film from André Schäfer ‘Schau mir in die Augen, Kleiner’ (‘Here’s Lookin at you, Kid’).

TEDDY on Tour 2007
In order to improve its international relations the TEDDY has also been busy learning Russian, Arabic and Chinese. In the middle kingdom of China homosexuality is considered somewhat of a taboo, and is still relatively unknown to the Western world, but in spite of that exciting developments are taking place. One such example is the founding of the ‘Rainbow Group’ at the Sun Yat-Sen University in Guanghzhou in the South Chinese province of Guangdong.

The TEDDY will also direct its attention to the Arabic and Russian speaking lands where it’s not only the queer communities that fall victim to numerous human rights abuses. In order to further concentrate its attentions on social living conditions for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities around the world the TEDDY has linked up with the group ‘Menschenrechte und Sexualle Identität’ (MERSI) (Human Rights and Sexual Identity) from amnesty international.

Throughout the Berlinale www.teddyaward.org and www.teddyaward.tv will be reporting on the daily difficulties (including state persecution) facing LGBT peoples worldwide. Ethical living TEDDY fans from all over can watch the special background reports and TV interviews and through this will have the opportunity become more active in the human rights movement.