Teddy Award Berlin - Der queere Filmpreis

Filmmaker Todd Verow revisits his own youth for his latest work. The film’s main character is Joe, who, like the director, grew up in Bangor in Maine. Joe lives with his single mother and older sister Theresa on a notorious council estate called “Capehart Projects”. Molested at the age of ten, Joe nevertheless decides to keep the incident to himself. He befriends an older artist named Victor and moves in with him, hoping to escape Bangor with his help. Todd Verow: “You [...] more

»One could go about a concert or opera evening differently. Especially in order to attract a young audience.« For the Belgian experimentalfilmmaker Eric de Kuyper (CASTA DIVA, NAUGHTY BOYS, A STRANGE LOVE AFFAIR, PINK ULYSSES), opera is undead – not quite living, but not quite dead. He sees a possibility to resurrect opera in the performance arts. "Genoveva" remains Robert Schumann’s only opera. In black and white images, Eric de Kuyper tries to expose Schumann’s [...] more

An unconventional comedy about five men, who have chosen an extravagant lifestyle and job. They work as drag queens. Rosa, Lusya, Fira, Lara and Gertruda – under these names they bring down the house wearing their stunning outfits and overwhelming make-up on the nightclub stage. Neither in their lives, nor on stage, are these people alike. They are different ages and have characters, different tempers, habits and dreams. Different circumstances have brought these people together for a short [...] more

A lonely bus stop, a trumpet-playing scout and a woman who refuses to pay him anything for his off-tune performance. This dryly humorous opening sets the tone forrest of the film which tells the story of Vic, a woman who has just been released fromprison and who is on the hunt for some peace and quiet. She moves into a relative’shouse in the Canadian forest and receives a visit from her lover, Flo. The two of themtake each day as it comes, exploring the countryside in a golf cart and enjoying [...] more

What do we really know about the people we call family? What kinds of feelings, gestures and love affairs characterise the smallest unit of society? What might really be going on behind doors at the neighbouring family’s abode? These are the questions that preoccupy director Christian Moris Müller in his film. The four windows of the title refer to four chapters, each devoted to one of four individuals involved in a furtive search for happiness. The son meets a stranger who wants to [...] more

When female impersonator Victor catches cold and loses his voice, the young
Elizabeth stands in for him. The British remake of Viktor und Viktoria is a revue film
with many song-and-dance routines and considerable visual appeal. more

‘Born activist’ Vito Russo was a New York film critic, screenwriter and LGBT activist. Over decades he was to become one of the most charismatic, eloquent and inspiring personalities of the American gay movement post-Stonewall. He gained fame for his live lecture performances of his 1981 book The Celluloid Closet which explored the representation of homosexuality in film and has today become a standard work on this topic, in which Russo could ideally combine his love of show business [...] more

Kinshasa is a city of silky smooth and pulsating nightlife, always ready to go on forever. The happy few who have it all live the high life, never looking back on those who have nothing and live in envy, dreaming of their turn as kings and queens of the night. Riva is one of those dreamers who had nothing, until he returned from ten years away, his pockets full of cash and determined to have the time of his life. With his old pal, J.M., he sets out for a night of drink, dance and debauchery. [...] more

In New York City, a distraught activist confronts the mayor with a story of a friend who languished on a cot in an emergency room hallway for nine days, only to die 48 hours after leaving the hospital. In 1988, thousands of activists hold the Food and Drug Administration under siege, demanding speedier drug approval. In 1990 AIDS activists converge on the National Institute of Health, calling for a more equitable clinical trial system and expanded research into new drugs and treatment. VOICES [...] more