It is probably the oldest and most important queer film award in the world: the Teddy Award, which is presented at the Berlinale. How was it in 2023 at the Volksbühne?
With their Teddy Trophy for Best Feature Film: Babatunde Apalowo and Damilola Orimogunjeam won with All the Colors of the World Are Between Black and White.Annette Riedl/dpa
Of course, you can’t or don’t want to just pretend that nothing happened: For many years, the Teddy Award has been presented on the evening before the big bear gala at the Berlinale – but this time it’s February 24th, the anniversary of the renewed Russian invasion of Ukraine. Even before the teddy gala actually begins, activists unroll a blue and yellow banner calling for support for Ukraine. And even before moderator Brix Schaumburg (Germany’s first outed trans actor) enters the stage in the Volksbühne in a pink suit, the famous final monologue from Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator” from 1940 is playing on the screen, in which Chaplin urgently advocates democracy , Peace and Humanity Pleads.
That will also determine the atmosphere of this evening: There have been more cheerful teddy galas in recent years. In terms of the basic tone, this is rather slow-paced, but still edifying. Even when the Berlin soul singer Lie Ning (whose debut LP will be released in mid-April) sings his heartbreaking “Utopia” – and when the Berlin singer Luna starts her ballad “Blau” on the piano (“Classmates, they all ask questions / ‘Why are you different?’ Ey, why am I different?’) to move from there to carpet of sound chords on which activists reaffirm their solidarity with the revolution in Iran.
Claudia Roth (r.), Minister of State for Culture and Media, and the Managing Director of the Berlinale Mariette Rissenbeek.Annette Riedl/dpa
Is this political attitude a mandatory program? No, of course it fits perfectly with the Teddy Award, which in its 37 years has always had a strong socio-political claim, in the name of the marginalized: to draw attention to queer stories in a glamorous setting. When Tilda Swinton, Pedro Almodóvar or Gus Van Sant took their teddy trophies from Berlin many years ago, they were far from the stars they are today – but underdogs in underground cinema.
The strongest moments of the evening are those when the award winners can no longer contain themselves with joy. Struggling for words. And then find no end to their acceptance speech. You can feel that this has a different urgency than that of Hollywood celebrities who are dusting off their third Oscar. The productions have long since come not only from North America and Europe, but also from societies and countries in which queerness is (even) more criminalized than in the global Northwest. The very diverse jury, made up of Alfonso F. Escadón, Darunee Terdtoontaveedej, Melanie Iredale, Sasha Prokopenko, Tom Oyer and Xena Scullard, certainly had an eye on this.
For a week they watched three dozen films. And then decided on this one: The teddy bear for the best feature film goes to “All the Colors of the World Are Between Black and White” by Babatunde Apalowo – the love story of two men in Nigeria. “In a hostile social and political environment, where the vestiges of colonial law criminalize homosexuality and aim to swallow any form of queerness,” the jury said, “this humble and compelling film demonstrates the power of courage that The courage of the stories, the courage of the characters, the courage of the crew to make this film.”
The teddy bear for the best documentary film goes to “Orlando, ma biographie politique” by the writer, who only presented his first film with “Orlando”. Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s novel of the same name and its gender-fluid protagonist (and certainly by the 1992 feature film adaptation starring Tilda Swinton), the film portrays dozens of non-binary Orlandos around the world, be they eight or seventy years old.
Matthew Thorne and Derik Lynch take home the Best Short Film award for “Marungka Tjalatjunu.” A film from Australia’s indigenous queer community. “A film in which the wounds of intergenerational trauma are healed through the medicine of community, acceptance and the idiosyncrasy of indigenous spirituality,” said the Teddy Jury. The Teddys’ Jury Award goes to Sacha Polak for her film “Silver Haze” – the story of a young woman who, after surviving an arson attack, seeks revenge and a solution and in the process finds love, a chosen family and acceptance. “What sets this film apart as a social realist drama,” said the jury, “is its all-too-rare and authentic portrayal of a lesbian storyline in working-class England.”
A socio-political claim became clear in all decisions of the teddy jury. Especially with the special prize: This year it goes to the two Ukrainians Andriy Khaalpakhchi and Bohdan Zhuk, who are planning a queer film festival in Kiev in June – building on their work in the queer “Sunny Bunny” film series at the Molodist film festival, which it there since 2001. The cooperation with the prizewinner Andriy Khalpakhchi, as emphasized by laudator Wieland Speck (the Teddy founder, whom they affectionately call “Daddy of the Teddy” here), goes back much further: contacts between Kiev and the (traditionally particularly queer) Berlinale Panorama section, from which the Teddy Award also emerged.
A particularly nice detail of the Teddy Gala 2023: When the nominated films are shown on the screen, the original sound does not play there, but the pianist Amy Protscher “does her magic”, as moderator Brix Schaumburg calls it: she plays live on the Piano an improvised soundtrack that keeps the films together in terms of sound, but also leaves each one with its own characteristics. A musical detail that represents the community aspect of the award.
After two and a half hours of the gala, the dance floors will be opened on all floors of the Volksbühne. Many who did not get tickets for the gala itself are only now arriving at the Volksbühne. The feeling that stays: teddy bears are inherently cuddly. But we cuddle and we dance in a political world.