Teddy Award Berlin - Der queere Filmpreis

They are the most versatile, deadly, best trained – and certainly best-looking – troop of secret agents in the world. The D.E.B.S. are four young women who have been specially trained at a secret “academy” as part of an undercover government mission – after having been hand-picked for the job at inconspicuous nationwide academic trials to test their suitability.Dressed in their tartan mini-skirts and white socks they do not, at first sight, look like anything more [...] more

In the 562nd episode of a – fictional – television series, the D.E.B.S. find themselves up against a particularly tough opponent. The four schoolgirls, who also happen to be specially trained secret agents, are obliged to fight a former colleague, now bent on dominating the world. Then, the worst happens: one of the trio is kidnapped by the ex-D.E.B. and forced to have sex with her. . . Angela Robinson: “I love all the comic book characters: Charlie’s Angels, Josie & [...] more

Film director Daniel Schmid was born in 1941. His father was a hotelier in Flims. A talented child, he was inspired by his grandmother’s stories and soon discovered the art of being expressive. Before long, the hall of his parents’ hotel became the stage for his own storytelling – a passion which was to remain with him for the rest of his life. After studying at the Freie Universität Berlin and at the German Film and Television Academy, Schmid went on to work with [...] more

When the film’s director, Julian Shaw, was 15 years old he saw a show in Sydney that was to change his life. That night, just one entertainer took to the stage – a political satirist from South Africa named Pieter-Dirk Uys. A well-known opponent of apartheid, Uys soon became a dedicated activist against Aids. Uys’ alter ego is Evita Bezuidenhout, South Africa’s ‘most famous white woman’. During his performance in Sydney, Uys railed passionately and with irresistibly [...] more

For those in the know Istanbul is something of a European gay mecca. How is this possible in present day Turkey? During the making of this film we were able to observe that, beyond the media, the discussion about Turkey joining the EU and the adoption of an increasingly Western lifestyle, a Turkish gay community has emerged that is self-confidently beginning to stand up for its rights. One member of this community is 28-year-old Kurd Mehmet Tarhan. Two years ago he was arrested and imprisoned [...] more

A portrait of the writer Napoleon Seyfarth, whose books, “Schweine müssen nackt sein” (Pigs Should Be Naked) and “Schwein oder Nicht-Schwein” (To Pig or not to Pig) have achieved cult status. There are, so the books say, answers “to life” and death. Napoleon Seyfarth was an Aids activist and a flamboyant figure in Berlin’s gay scene. He died of Aids in the year 2000. more

Christoph Josten was Ovo Maltine. She died on 8 February, 2005 at Berlin’s Auguste Viktoria hospital, eleven weeks after suddenly being diagnosed with lymphatic cancer. She had lived with the HIV virus for 13 years. “Ovo (the egg)”– read one obituary – “lay down in Berlin’s nest of queens and brooded on a number of political projects: a hotline for gay victims of assault, Act Up, AIDS benefit events, the legalisation of marihuana, the [...] more

Fun, sex and lunacy. All hell's been let loose at No Use High School! Director E J-Yong puts a whole new curriculum together for his brilliant adaptation of an internet comic. Whilst the couple that run this somewhat unusual boarding school indulge their sado-masochistic longings, their multi-confessional pupils are busy educating themselves primarily in all kinds of sexual practices. At the centre of this off-the-wall revue of eccentric youths is Poverty Girl, who is somewhat of an outsider [...] more

Découpage is a film about filmmaking and film viewing; about a gender encountering itself, the world and the images of this world. more

Short synopsis: Every week thousands of chickens are gnawed down to the bone in a restaurant. A bone-grinding machine reduces the remains of the chickens to make feed for the next generation of poultry. A never ending cycle of eating and being eaten. Even Brenner, an ex-detective, does not seem to remember what it is he is doing there, he was only supposed to find a man who was missing without a trace... In the end in the basement of the restaurant, while a masked ball is taking place, love [...] more

“Letter to an Angel” was written by Tilda Swinton to Derek Jarman on 17 August, 2002 – eight years after his death. In it, she describes her delight at the publication of the DVD version of Jarman’s 1977 work, JUBILEE, as well as her memories of the director whose films marked the beginning of her own career: “You were indeed the great Thatcherite film-maker – for every £200,000 film you made, real profits were seen (by someone or other) within at least [...] more

Heavy clouds hang over the tobacco fields in the mountainous jungle of north western Argentina. Here, far from the big city, live Ernesto and Helena. They long to have children, but their passion is spent. One day, Helena’s cousin Joaquin arrives. He has just gone through detox and his mother has banished him to this remote place for rehabilitation. Although they all keep to themselves, the young man’s presence bringslife to their marriage. An atmosphere begins to develop that nobody [...] more

There was a time in which the rainbow flag meant more than just the promise of a certain lifestyle. DETLEF takes us back into the turbulent days of the gay rights movement and illuminates an all but forgotten chapter in West-German history, a time of socio-political change during which the battle for fundamental rights for gays and lesbians was fought and won. Sixty-year-old Detlef Stoffel lives with his ninety-one-year-old mother, who is in need of constant care. Detlef, who has little choice [...] more

An Austrian woman has been forced to live alone with her children ever since her husband Karamo was deported to Africa. A man tries to instil hope in his Chinese wife that she will soon be allowed to return to Vienna. Others talk of the long wait forresidence permits, of struggles with forms and offices, of German courses, income statements and domestic spot checks by the police which infer that their marriage is asham. The complicated, state regulated reality experienced by various bi-national [...] more

Maria and Hermann Braun get married during the Second World War. After half a day and just one night together, Hermann has to return to the front. After the war, he is reported missing. Maria alone believes that he's still alive. In a bar reserved exclusively for American servicemen, Maria gets a job as a bar girl. She meets Bill, a black G.I., and gets pregnant. One evening, when she and Bill are in bed together, Hermann suddenly appears. In a fit of rage, he starts hitting Maria. She cannot [...] more

The documentary RENT BOYS (DIE JUNGS VOM BAHNHOF ZOO) is a compelling weave of authentic stories about rent boys that manages to illuminate the phenomenon of male prostitution whilst carefully avoiding the clichés that surround the milieu. The film focuses on the biographies of five rent boys, three of whom are Roma. We follow Ionel back to his village in Rumania and learn of the impoverished lives that lads like him have left behind. Nazif is a former civil war refugee from Bosnia [...] more

The film tells the story of Rita Vogt who, as a young woman, was seduced by love and a sense of justice to become a terrorist. Recognising that the RAF is doomed to failure, she seeks refuge in the GDR. The Stasi provides her with a new identity and she embarks upon an ordinary life as a working woman. However, when West-German television begins broadcasting her photograph as one of a number of wanted terrorists, she is obliged to take flight once more. more

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An old man is dying. His carer Noel sits quietly by his side. Dina, the man’s granddaughter, appears in an animal costume. She raids the fridge and then goes off to have fun with her friends. When she returns late at night, her grandfather is dead. Dina and Noel lovingly stroke the man’s hands, comb his hair, smoke a cigarette, share a laugh and then go out into the night time city. Loud electronic music awaits them in a club. As the sun rises they leap into the sea’s clear, [...] more

DISH observes the conversations of two adolescent Emos, Israel and Louie, in Los Angeles. The main issue is sex with other guys. Louie knows about it from personal experience, but Israel still needs to try. They are constantly exchanging text messages about the subject. While walking around their East Los Angeles neighborhood dishing about their high school classmates they talk about dicks, fucking, the use of condoms and the old cliché of top and bottom sex. After listening to Louie boast [...] more

A drama about taboos, love and violence, based on a best-selling novel by Jim Grimsley set in a religious community in America’s south. Fifteen-yearold Nathan and his parents have recently moved to a small country town in Louisiana. One Sunday morning on the way back from church he notices the boy next door for the first time. Roy is only seventeen, but is already driving the school bus. He also has a girlfriend that he seems to love very much – at least that’s what it looks [...] more

Felix and Daniel live in Dieppe. Thanks to a series of circumstances, Felix is able to realise a plan he has been contemplating for a long time, namely, to travel to Marseille to visit the father he has never met. But Felix is a bit of a dreamer by nature, and so, instead of taking a train directly to his destination, he elects to simply set off, willy-nilly. This method of travel involves ‘borrowing’ the odd car or two. The magic of spring, the countryside and the various encounters [...] more

Merlyn, a transvestite, and Sanela, a prostitute, share a home in the suburbs of Belgrade. Dzoni, who has returned from fighting on the Bosnian front gets to know them. A bit of sex is what he needs to overcome political violence and macho aggression. (BFI)

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