The Teddy Award is an international film award for films with LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

 topics, presented by an independent jury as an official award of the Berlin International Film Festival

Berlin International Film Festival

The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...

 (the Berlinale). Here, an "independent jury" implies that its members are not officially selected by the committee of the Berlinale. In the most part, the jury consists of organisers of gay and lesbian film festivals, who view films screened in all sections of the Berlinale. Subsequently, a list of films meeting criteria for LGBT content is selected by the jury, and a 3,000-Euro Teddy is awarded to a feature film, a short film and a documentary. The award was first given in 1987.

History of the Award

In 1987 German filmmakers Wieland Speck

Wieland Speck

Wieland Speck is a German film director, who since 1992 has coordinated "Panorama" at the International Filmfestival Berlin . Panorama showcases new films by established directors, as well as debut works by up-and-coming talents....

 and Manfred Salzgeber

Manfred Salzgeber

Manfred Salzgeber was a German actor and film producer. He was director of the "Sektion Panorama" at the Internationales Filmfestspiel Berlin...

 formed a jury called the International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival Association (IGLFFA) to create an award for LGBT films.

The first Teddy Award was given to Pedro Almodóvar

Pedro Almodóvar

Pedro Almodóvar Caballero is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.Almodóvar is arguably the most successful and internationally known Spanish filmmaker of his generation. His films, marked by complex narratives, employ the codes of melodrama and use elements of pop culture, popular...

 for his film La ley del deseo

La ley del deseo

Law of Desire or La ley del deseo is a 1987 film by Pedro Almodóvar. Considered to be Almodóvar's first explicitly gay film, it focuses on a complex love triangle between three men...

, which featured Antonio Banderas

Antonio Banderas

José Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...

.

1990 was the first bigger festival in the LGBT centrum SchwuZ in Berlin with around 400 guests. The evening was organized from BeV StroganoV and workers of the bookstore Eisenherz in Berlin. In 1992 the award was officially made part of the Berlin International Film Festival. In 1997 TEDDY e.V., a non-profit organisation was founded, which lobbied the award.

Categories

There are three categories in which the award is given:

• feature film
• documentary
• short film

1987

• Best feature film: La ley del deseo
  La ley del deseo
  Law of Desire or La ley del deseo is a 1987 film by Pedro Almodóvar. Considered to be Almodóvar's first explicitly gay film, it focuses on a complex love triangle between three men...
  
  (Law of Desire) – Pedro Almodóvar
  Pedro Almodóvar
  Pedro Almodóvar Caballero is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.Almodóvar is arguably the most successful and internationally known Spanish filmmaker of his generation. His films, marked by complex narratives, employ the codes of melodrama and use elements of pop culture, popular...
  
  
• Best short film: Five Ways to Kill Yourself and My New Friend – Gus Van Sant
  Gus Van Sant
  Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...
  
  

1988

• Best feature film: The Last of England – Derek Jarman
  Derek Jarman
  Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.-Life:...
  
  
• Best documentary: Rights and Reactions – Phil Zwickler
• Best documentary: Die Wiese der Sachen (The Meadow of Things) – Heinz Emigholz
  Heinz Emigholz
  Heinz Emigholz is a filmmaker, actor, artist, writer and producer. He is a Professor for Experimental film at Berlin University of the Arts and at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. He worked as an illustrator and a retoucher, and studied philosophy and literary studies in Hamburg...
  
  
• Best short film: Alfalfa – Richard Kwietniowski
  Richard Kwietniowski
  Richard Kwietniowski is an English film director and screenwriter of Polish descent. During the 1980s he was a film lecturer at Bulmershe College of Higher Education Richard Kwietniowski (born 17 March 1957) is an English film director and screenwriter of Polish descent. During the 1980s he was a...
  
  
• Jury award: Tilda Swinton
  Tilda Swinton
  Katherine Mathilda "Tilda" Swinton is a British actress known for both arthouse and mainstream films. She has appeared in a number of films including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Burn After Reading, The Beach, We Need to Talk About Kevin and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her...
  
  
• Siegessäule (German magazine) reader award: The Last of England – Derek Jarman
  Derek Jarman
  Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.-Life:...
  
  

1989

• Best feature film: Looking for Langston
  Looking For Langston
  Looking for Langston is a 1989 British black-and-white film directed by Isaac Julien. It combines authentic archival newsreel footage of Harlem in the 1920s with scripted scenes to produce a non-linear impressionistic story line celebrating black gay identity and desire during the artistic and...
  
  – Isaac Julien
  Isaac Julien
  Isaac Julien is an installation artist and filmmaker.-Biography:Julien graduated from St Martin's School of Art in 1985, where he studied painting and fine art film...
  
  
• Best film: Fun Down There
  Fun Down There
  Fun Down There is a 1988 drama film directed by Roger Stigliano. It stars Michael Waite, who co-wrote the script with Stigliano. It premiered at the 1989 Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film...
  
  – Roger Stigliano
• Best documentary: Tiny and Ruby: Hell Divin' Women – Greta Schiller and Andrea Weiss
• Best documentary: Urinal – John Greyson
  John Greyson
  John Greyson is a Canadian filmmaker, whose work frequently deals with gay themes. Greyson is also a video artist, writer and activist; he is currently a professor at York University, where he teaches film and video theory and film production and editing.-Background:Greyson was born the son of...
  
  

1990

• Best feature film: Coming Out – Heiner Carow
  Heiner Carow
  Heiner Carow was a German film director and screenwriter. His 1986 film So Many Dreams was entered into the 37th Berlin International Film Festival. The following year, he was a member of the jury at the 38th Berlin International Film Festival...
  
  
• Best documentary: Tongues Untied
  Tongues Untied
  Tongues Untied is a 1989 semi-documentary film directed by Marlon Riggs. The film seeks, in its author's words to, "...shatter the nation's brutalising silence on matters of sexual and racial difference."-Content:...
  
  – Marlon T. Riggs
• Best short film: Trojans – Constantine Giannaris
• Jury award: Silence = Death – Rosa von Praunheim
  Rosa von Praunheim
  Rosa von Praunheim , in Riga, Latvia. His given name is Holger Mischwitzky. He is a German film director, author, painter and gay rights activist. Openly gay, he is one of the initiators of the gay rights movement in Germany....
  
  

1991

• Best feature film: Poison
  Poison (film)
  Poison is a 1991 independent film written and directed by Todd Haynes. It is composed of three intercut stories that are partially inspired by the novels of Jean Genet...
  
  – Todd Haynes
  Todd Haynes
  Todd Haynes is an American independent film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his feature films Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Poison, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, and the Academy Award-nominated Far from Heaven and I'm Not There.- Style and themes :The writes that "Haynes is...
  
  
• Best documentary: Paris Is Burning
  Paris is Burning (film)
  Paris Is Burning is a 1990 documentary film directed by Jennie Livingston. Filmed in the mid-to-late 1980s, it chronicles the ball culture of New York City and the African American, Latino, gay and transgender communities involved in it...
  
  – Jennie Livingston
  Jennie Livingston
  Jennie Livingston is an American director best known for the 1990 documentary Paris is Burning.Livingston was born in Dallas, Texas and grew up in Los Angeles where she attended Beverly HIlls High School. She graduated from Yale University in 1983, where she studied photography, drawing, and...
  
  
• Best short film: Relax – Chris Newby
  Chris Newby
  Christopher Newby is a British film director and screenwriter.He studied at Leeds Polytechnic and The Royal College of Art in London...
  
  
• Jury award: The Making of Monsters – John Greyson
  John Greyson
  John Greyson is a Canadian filmmaker, whose work frequently deals with gay themes. Greyson is also a video artist, writer and activist; he is currently a professor at York University, where he teaches film and video theory and film production and editing.-Background:Greyson was born the son of...
  
  
• Special award: Forbidden Love – Vladislav Kvasnicka

1992

• Best feature film: Together Alone
  Together Alone (film)
  Together Alone is a 1991 drama film written and directed by P.J. Castellaneta.-Plot:Bryan meets a man called Bill in a bar. They go back to Bryan's home and have unprotected sex. Later, they wake up and talk. Bryan discovers that Bill's real name is Brian, and that he is bisexual...
  
  – P.J. Castellaneta
• Best documentary: Voices from the Front – David Meieran, Robyn Hut and Sandra Elgear
• Best short film: Caught Looking – Constantin Giannaris
• Jury award: Edward II
  Edward II (film)
  Edward II is a 1991 film directed by Derek Jarman, starring Steven Waddington, Tilda Swinton and Andrew Tiernan. It is based on the eponymous play by Christopher Marlowe...
  
  – Derek Jarman
  Derek Jarman
  Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.-Life:...
  
  
• Guests award: Swoon
  Swoon (film)
  Swoon is an independent film written and directed by Tom Kalin, released in 1992. It is an account of the 1924 Leopold and Loeb murder case, focusing more on the homosexuality of the killers than other movies based on the case...
  
  – Tom Kalin
  Tom Kalin
  Tom Kalin is an award-winning screenwriter, film director, producer, and professor of experimental film at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee.His debut feature, Swoon, is considered an integral part of the New Queer Cinema...
  
  

1993

• Best feature film: Wittgenstein
  Wittgenstein (film)
  Wittgenstein is a 1993 film by the English director Derek Jarman. It is loosely based on the life story as well as the philosophical thinking of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. The adult Wittgenstein is played by the Welsh actor Karl Johnson....
  
  – Derek Jarman
  Derek Jarman
  Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.-Life:...
  
  
• Best documentary: Silverlake Life – Tom Joslin and Peter Friedman
• Best short film: P(l)ain Truth – Ilppo Pohjola
• Guests award: Sex is... – Marc Huestis
  Marc Huestis
  Marc Huestis is an award winning filmmaker, camp impresario and social activist. He is best known for his motion picture Sex Is... and his in-person tributes/benefit events feting celebrities from Hollywood's Golden Age and cult personas at San Francisco's Castro Theatre.- Early life :Huestis was...
  
  

1994

• Best feature film: Go Fish
  Go Fish (film)
  Go Fish is a 1994 American lesbian-themed independent drama film. Directed and co-written by Rose Troche, the film tells the story of the interrelationships of a small group of lesbian friends in Chicago...
  
  – Rose Troche
  Rose Troche
  Rose Troche is a film and television director, television producer, and screenwriter. She grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and attended film school, earning a degree from the University of Illinois in Chicago...
  
  
• Best documentary: Coming Out Under Fire
  Coming Out Under Fire
  Coming Out Under Fire is a documentary film directed and produced by Arthur Dong and narrated by actress Salome Jens. Based on Allan Bérubé's book of the same title, the film examines the attitudes toward homosexuality in the United States Armed Forces during World War II.-Awards:*Special Jury...
  
  – Arthur Dong
  Arthur Dong
  Arthur Dong is an Academy Award-nominated American documentary filmmaker. His work combines the art of the visual medium with an investigation of social issues, examining topics such as Asian American history and identity, and gay oppression...
  
  
• Best short film: Carmelita Tropicana
  Carmelita Tropicana
  Alina Troyano , better known as Carmelita Tropicana, is a Cuban-American stage and film actress.-References:* * -External links:...
  
  – Ela Troyano
• Jury award: Remembrance of Things Fast: True Stories Visual Lies – John Maybury
  John Maybury
  John Maybury is an English filmmaker. In 2005 he was listed as one of the 100 most influential gay and lesbian people in Britain.-Early life:...
  
  
• Siegessäule reader award: Heavy Blow – Hoang A. Duong
• Guests award: Fresa y chocolate (Strawberry and Chocolate) – Tomas Gutierrez Alea
  Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
  Tomás Gutiérrez Alea was a Cuban filmmaker. He wrote and directed more than 20 features, documentaries, and short films, which are known for his sharp insight into post-Revolutionary Cuba, and possess a delicate balance between dedication to the revolution and criticism of the social, economic,...
  
   and Juan Carlos Tabio
  Juan Carlos Tabío
  Juan Carlos Tabío is a Cuban film director and screenwriter. His film Strawberry and Chocolate , which he co-directed with Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, won a Silver Bear - Special Jury Prize at the 44th Berlin International Film Festival, and was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign...
  
  

1995

• Best feature film: The Last Supper
  The Last Supper (1994 film)
  -Plot:Chris is a dancer dying of AIDS. Before his assisted suicide he shares a last meal with his lover Val .-Production:...
  
  – Cynthia Roberts
• Best documentary: Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter
  Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter
  Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter is a 1994 documentary film directed by Deborah Hoffmann. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature....
  
  – Deborah Hoffmann
• Best short film: Trevor – Peggy Rajski
• Jury award: Dupe od mramora
  Dupe od mramora
  Dupe od mramora is a 1995 feature film by Serbian filmmaker Želimir Žilnik. It was screened at the Berlin Film Festival in 1995 and won a Teddy award as best feature...
  
  – Želimir Žilnik
  Želimir Žilnik
  Želimir Žilnik is a Serbian film director. He is noted for his socially engaging style and criticism of censorship that was commonplace during the Yugoslav communist era...
  
  
• Siegessäule reader award: Ballot Measure 9 – Heather McDonald
  Heather McDonald
  Heather McDonald is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She is best known for her appearances on the E! series Chelsea Lately. She is one of the eight writers on the show and often participates in sketches and segments...
  
  
• Guests award: Priest – Antonia Bird
  Antonia Bird
  Antonia Bird is an English television drama and feature film director.-Life and career:Bird was born in London. She began her career at the Royal Court Theatre before moving to television in the mid 1980s, directing episodes of EastEnders , Casualty , and drama serials like Thin Air and The Men's...
  
  

1996

• Best feature film: The Watermelon Woman
  The Watermelon Woman
  The Watermelon Woman is a 1996 feature film by filmmaker Cheryl Dunye about Cheryl, a young black lesbian working a day job in a video store while trying to make a film about a black actress from the 1930s known for playing the stereotypical "mammy" roles relegated to black actresses during the...
  
  – Cheryl Dunye
  Cheryl Dunye
  Cheryl Dunye is a film director, producer, screenwriter, editor and actress. Dunye is a lesbian and her work often concerns themes of race, sexuality and gender, particularly issues relating to black lesbians.Dunye was born in Liberia...
  
  
• Best documentary: The Celluloid Closet
  The Celluloid Closet
  The Celluloid Closet is a 1996 American documentary film directed and written by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. The film is based on the 1981 book of the same name written by Vito Russo, and on previous lecture and film clip presentations given in person by Russo 1972–82.Russo researched the...
  
  – Rob Epstein
  Rob Epstein
  Rob Epstein, also credited as Robert P. Epstein, is a director, producer, writer and editor. Epstein has won two Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature for the films The Times of Harvey Milk and Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt....
  
   and Jeffrey Friedman
  Jeffrey Friedman (filmmaker)
  Jeffrey Friedman is a non-fiction filmmaker, director, producer, writer and editor. Friedman has won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for the film Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt....
  
  
• Best documentary: I'll Be Your Mirror – Nan Goldin
  Nan Goldin
  Nancy "Nan" Goldin is an American photographer.-Life and work:Goldin was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in the Boston, Massachusetts suburb of Lexington, to middle class Jewish parents whose ideas, moderately liberal and progressive, were put to the test when on April 12, 1965 their eldest...
  
   and Edmund Coulthard
• Best short film: Unbound – Claudia Morgado Escanilla
• Best short film: Alkali, Iowa – Mark Christopher
  Mark Christopher
  Mark Christopher is a conservative/libertarian talk radio host. His show titled The Mark Christopher Show initially broadcast on 99.7 WWTN and then, 1510 WLAC both in Nashville, Tennessee where he was named the Associated Press talk show of the year for 3 straight years, and the #1 talk show in...
  
  
• Jury award: Jerry Tartaglia for the Konservierung of the films from Jack Smith
  Jack Smith (film director)
  Jack Smith was an American filmmaker, actor, and pioneer of underground cinema...
  
  
• Siegessäule award: Paris Was a Woman – Greta Schiller

1997

• Best feature film: All Over Me – Alex Sichel
• Best documentary: Murder and Murder – Yvonne Rainer
  Yvonne Rainer
  Yvonne Rainer is an American dancer, choreographer and filmmaker, whose work in these disciplines is frequently challenging and experimental. Her work is classified as minimalist art.- Early life :...
  
  
• Best short film: Heroines of Love – Nathalie Percillier and Lily Besilly
• Special award: Romy Haag
  Romy Haag
  Eva Maria Verbaarsschott , professionally known as Romy Haag, is a dancer, singer, actress and former nightclub manager. She is regarded one of the best known transsexuals in Germany and Europe.-Life:...
  
  
• Siegessäule reader award: All Over Me – Alex Sichel

1998

• Best feature film: Hold You Tight
  Hold You Tight
  Hold You Tight is a multi-award-winning 1998 Hong Kong romantic drama film directed by Stanley Kwan....
  
  – Stanley Kwan
  Stanley Kwan
  Stanley Kwan is a Hong Kong Second Wave film director and producer.Kwan landed a job at the TVB after receiving a mass communications degree at Hong Kong Baptist College...
  
  
• Best documentary: The Brandon Teena Story – Susan Muska and Gréta Olafsdóttir
• Best short film: Peppermills – Isabel Hegner
• Jury award: The Man in Her Life
  Ang Lalaki Sa Buhay Ni Selya
  Ang Lalaki Sa Buhay Ni Selya is a controversial 1997 Filipino film about a woman who confronts her own prejudice among the community of intolerant and homophobic gossipers when she chooses between two men.-Synopsis:...
  
  – Carlos Siguion-Reyna
• Special award: Richard O'Brien
  Richard O'Brien
  Richard Timothy Smith , better known under his stage name Richard O'Brien, is an English writer, actor, television presenter and theatre performer. He is perhaps best known for writing the cult musical The Rocky Horror Show and for his role in presenting the popular TV show The Crystal Maze...
  
  
• Siegessäule reader award: The Brandon Teena Story – Susan Muska and Gréta Olafsdóttir
• Special Mention: Un©ut
  Uncut (film)
  Un©ut is a Canadian docudrama film, released in 1997. The film was written and directed by John Greyson.Set in Ottawa in 1979, the film stars Matthew Ferguson as Peter Cort, a researcher writing a book on male circumcision, and Michael Achtman as Peter Koosens, his assistant who has a sexual...
  
  – John Greyson
  John Greyson
  John Greyson is a Canadian filmmaker, whose work frequently deals with gay themes. Greyson is also a video artist, writer and activist; he is currently a professor at York University, where he teaches film and video theory and film production and editing.-Background:Greyson was born the son of...
  
  

1999

• Best feature film: Show Me Love – Lukas Moodysson
  Lukas Moodysson
  - External links :*...
  
  
• Best documentary: The Man Who Drove With Mandela – Greta Schiller
• Best short film: Liu Awaiting Spring – Andrew Soo
• Jury award: to all German gay-lesbian Berlinale films 1999
• Siegessäule reader award: Trick
  Trick (film)
  Trick is a 1999 gay-themed romantic comedy film directed by Jim Fall. Trick appeared at the Sundance and Berlin film festivals in 1999. Filming was completed in less than three weeks in August 1998.-Plot:...
  
  – Jim Fall
  Jim Fall
  Jim Fall is an American film and television director and film producer.He is best known for directing the films Trick , his directorial debut and The Lizzie McGuire Movie . He also directed the independent films He Touched Me and Love is Deaf, Dumb and Blind...
  
  

2000

• Best feature film: Water Drops on Burning Rocks
  Water Drops on Burning Rocks
  Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes is a 2000 French drama film directed by François Ozon. The film is based on a German play by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Tropfen auf heisse Steine.-Act 1:...
  
  – François Ozon
  François Ozon
  François Ozon is a French film director and screenwriter and whose films are usually characterized by sharp satirical wit and a freewheeling view on human sexuality....
  
  
• Best documentary: Paragraph 175
  Paragraph 175 (film)
  Paragraph 175 is a documentary film released in 2000, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, and narrated by Rupert Everett. The film was produced by Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman, Janet Cole, Michael Ehrenzweig, Sheila Nevins and Howard Rosenman. The film chronicles the lives of several gay...
  
  – Rob Epstein
  Rob Epstein
  Rob Epstein, also credited as Robert P. Epstein, is a director, producer, writer and editor. Epstein has won two Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature for the films The Times of Harvey Milk and Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt....
  
   and Jeffrey Friedman
  Jeffrey Friedman (filmmaker)
  Jeffrey Friedman is a non-fiction filmmaker, director, producer, writer and editor. Friedman has won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for the film Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt....
  
  
• Best short film: Hartes Brot – Nathalie Percillier
• Jury award: Drôle de Félix
  Drôle de Félix
  Drôle de Félix is a 2000 French film, a road movie written and directed by Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau. It stars Sami Bouajila as the title character.- Plot :Félix, a young gay man of Arab descent, living in Dieppe, is currently unemployed and HIV positive...
  
  – Olivier Ducastel
  Olivier Ducastel
  Olivier Ducastel is a French film director, screenwriter and sound editor who currently works in collaboration with partner Jacques Martineau.- Biography :...
  
   and Jacques Martineau
  Jacques Martineau
  Jacques Martineau is a French film director and screenwriter who works in collaboration with partner Olivier Ducastel.- Biography :...
  
  
• Jury award: Chrissy – Jacqui North
• Siegessäule reader award: Drôle de Félix – Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau

2001

• Best feature film: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
  Hedwig and the Angry Inch (film)
  Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a 2001 American musical comedy-drama film based on the stage musical of the same title about a fictional rock band fronted by an East German transgender singer. The film was adapted and directed by John Cameron Mitchell, who also portrayed the title role...
  
  – John Cameron Mitchell
  John Cameron Mitchell
  John Cameron Mitchell is an American writer, actor, and director. He is best known for his motion pictures Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Shortbus and Rabbit Hole.- Early life:...
  
  
• Best documentary: Trembling Before G-d
  Trembling Before G-d
  Trembling Before G-d is an 2001 American documentary film about gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews trying to reconcile their sexuality with their faith. It was directed by Sandi Simcha DuBowski, an American who wanted to compare orthodox attitudes to homosexuality with his own upbringing as a gay...
  
  – Sandi Simcha DuBowski
  Sandi Simcha DuBowski
  Sandi Simcha DuBowski is an American director and producer. Best known for his work on homosexuality and religion, DuBowski directed the 2001 documentary Trembling Before G-d and is the producer of Parvez Sharma's documentary A Jihad for Love .-Personal life:DuBowski was born in Brooklyn in 1970...
  
  
• Best short film: Erè Mèla Mèla – Daniel Wiroth
• Jury award: Forbidden Fruit
  Forbidden Fruit (2000 film)
  Forbidden Fruit is a 2000 German/Zimbabwean short documentary film written and directed by Sue Maluwa-Bruce. Filmed in Zimbabwe, the film depicts the romantic relationship between two women, and the aftermath of the discovery of their relationship.-Plot:...
  
  – Sue Maluwa-Bruce and Beate Kunath
• Special award: Moritz de Hadeln
  Moritz de Hadeln
  Moritz de Hadeln is a Swiss documentary Film director and photographer, who became a Film Festival director...
  
  
• Siegessäule reader award: The Iron Ladies
  The Iron Ladies (film)
  The Iron Ladies is a Thai comedy film from the year 2000. The movie follows the true events of a men's volleyball team, composed mainly of gay and kathoey athletes...
  
  – Yongjoot Thongkontoon

2002

• Best feature film: Walking on Water
  Walking on Water (film)
  Walking on Water is a 2002 Australian drama film directed by Tony Ayres. The film explores the grief, tenderness, stupidity and humour that arises from death. When Gavin is finally laid to rest after a grueling fight with AIDS, his close friends Charlie and Anna find themselves at odds regarding...
  
  – Tony Ayres
  Tony Ayres
  Tony Ayres is a Chinese-born Australian screenwriter and director. He is most notable for his award-winning films Walking on Water and The Home Song Stories.-Early life:...
  
  
• Best documentary: Alt om min far – Even Benestad
  Even Benestad
  Even Benestad is a Norwegian documentary film director. Benestad studied cinematography at Oslo Film and Television Academy. His first feature-length documentary All About My Father , which was winner of the "Best Film" award at the Amanda Awards in 2002...
  
  
• Best short film: Celebration – Daniel Stedman
  Daniel Stedman
  ' is a multi-award-winning film director, producer, writer, and owner and current president of The L Magazine , Brooklyn Magazine, and the Northside Festival.-Background:Stedman received a degree in physics from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine...
  
  
• Jury award: Just a Woman – Mitra Farahani
  Mitra Farahani
  Mitra Farahani is an internationally acclaimed Iranian filmmaker and painter who lives in Paris.She was arrested on June 17, 2009 by the Iranian government, on her arrival in Tehran from Paris and held in Evin prison...
  
  
• Siegessäule reader award: Walking On Water – Tony Ayres

2003

• Best feature film: A Thousand Clouds of Peace
  A Thousand Clouds of Peace
  A Thousand Clouds of Peace is a 2003 romantic drama film written and directed by Julián Hernández. Its original Spanish title is Mil nubes de paz cercan el cielo, amor, jamás acabarás de ser amor and alternative titles for it are A Thousand Clouds of Peace Fence the Sky, Love; Your Being Love Will...
  
  – Julián Hernández
  Julian Hernández
  Julian Hernández may refer to:*Julian Hernández Santillán, Mexican politician*Julian Hernandez...
  
  
• Best documentary: Talk Straight: The World of Rural Queers – Jochen Hick
  Jochen Hick
  Jochen Hick is a German film director and producer of mainly independent feature and documentary films, also specialising in LGBT subjects. In 1994 he founded the film and TV production company GALERIA ALASKA PRODCTIONS, based in Hamburg and Berlin...
  
  
• Best short film: Precious Moments – Lars Krutzkoff and Jan Dalchow
• Special award: Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau
  Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau
  Friedrich Wilhelm "F. W." Murnau was one of the most influential German film directors of the silent era, and a prominent figure in the expressionist movement in German cinema during the 1920s...
  
  
• Siegessäule reader award: The Event
  The Event (film)
  The Event is a 2003 drama film directed by Thom Fitzgerald. It tells the story of Matt Shapiro who has died in Manhattan, resulting in an aborted 9-1-1 call...
  
  – Thom Fitzgerald
  Thom Fitzgerald
  Thomas "Thom" Fitzgerald is an award winning American-Canadian film director as well live theater director.-Life:Fitzgerald was born and raised in New Rochelle, New York. His parents divorced when he was five years old. He moved with his mother and brother, Timothy Jr., to Bergenfield, New Jersey,...
  
  

2004

• Best feature film: Wild Side
  Wild Side (2004 film)
  Wild Side is a 2004 drama film directed by Sébastien Lifshitz. It premiered at the 2004 Berlin International Film Festival.-Plot:Stéphanie, a transsexual prostitute travels to a small town to care for her sick mother. She is joined by her two flatmates, an Algerian hustler and an AWOL Russian...
  
  - Sébastien Lifshitz
  Sébastien Lifshitz
  Sébastien Lifshitz is a French screenwriter and director. He teaches at La Fémis, a school that focuses on the subject of image and sound. He studied at the École du Louvre, and has a bachelor's degree from the University of Paris in history of art.Lifshitz's work involves gay themes...
  
  
• Best documentary: The Nomi Song
  The Nomi Song
  The Nomi Song is a 2004 documentary about the life of singer Klaus Nomi, written and directed by Andrew Horn. The film debuted at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2004, where it won a Teddy Award for "Best Documentary Film."-Structure:...
  
  – Andrew Horn
• Best short film: ¿Con qué la lavaré? – Maria Trénor
• Special award: Edition Salzgeber
• Siegessäule reader award: D.E.B.S. – Angela Robinson
  Angela Robinson
  Angela Robinson is an American film and television director, screenwriter and producer.-Early life:Robinson was born in San Francisco, California and later grew up in Los Angeles. Robinson completed a B.A...
  
  

2005

• Best feature film: A Year Without Love
  A Year Without Love
  A Year Without Love is an Argentine gay-themed autobiographical film released in 2005, directed by Anahi Berneri, and written by Berneri and Pablo Pérez....
  
  – Anahí Berneri
• Best documentary: Katzenball – Veronika Minder
• Best short film: The Intervention – Jay Duplass
  Jay Duplass
  Lawrence Jay Duplass is an American film director. He is best known for his debut film The Puffy Chair and most recent film Baghead. His brother Mark Duplass has worked with him on both films....
  
  
• Siegessäule reader award: Transamerica
  Transamerica (film)
  Transamerica is a 2005 independent comedy-drama film produced by IFC Films and The Weinstein Company. The film tells the story of Bree, a transsexual woman , who goes on a road trip with her long-lost son Toby ....
  
  – Duncan Tucker
  Duncan Tucker
  Duncan Tucker is an American film director and screenwriter.Tucker was born in Arizona and graduated from New York University. After the short subject film The Mountain King, which was screened at over 31 international festivals, he wrote and directed his first feature film, Transamerica. Tucker's...
  
  

2006

• Best feature film: The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros – Auraeus Solito
  Auraeus Solito
  Auraeus Solito is a filmmaker and indigenous peoples rights advocate who comes from a lineage of Shaman-Kings from the Palawan tribe but is one of the first to be born outside of his tribal land of South Palawan...
  
  
• Best documentary: Beyond Hatred
  Beyond Hatred
  Beyond Hatred is a 2005 French documentary film written and directed by Olivier Meyrou.The documentary tells the story of a French couple seeking justice after the homophobic murder of their gay son, 29-year old Francois Chenu. He was murdered by neo-fascist skinheads in 2002...
  
  – Olivier Meyrou
• Best short film: El día que morí – Maryam Keshavarz
  Maryam Keshavarz
  Maryam Keshavarz is Iranian-American filmmaker.Keshavarz studied Persian literature at the University of Shiraz before turning to filmmaking. She has a B.A...
  
  
• Jury award: Combat – Patrick Carpentier
  Patrick Carpentier
  Patrick Carpentier is a retired Canadian race car driver. He is best known for his career in the Champ Car World Series and the IndyCar Series. In 2009, Patrick shared the #36 of Tommy Baldwin Racing with Mike Skinner and ran Michael Waltrip's #55 Toyota Camry in the road course races in the...
  
  
• Siegessäule reader award: Paper Dolls
  Paper Dolls (film)
  Paper Dolls is a 2006 documentary by Israeli director Tomer Heymann, which follows the lives of transgender migrant workers from the Philippines who also perform as drag queens during their spare time...
  
  – Tomer Heymann
  Tomer Heymann
  Tomer Heymann is an Israeli filmmaker.- Life :Heymann has directed many documentary films and series in the past ten years, most of them long-term follow-ups and personal documentations. His films won major awards at different prestigious film festivals including his first film “It Kinda Scares...
  
  

2007

• Best feature film: Spider Lilies
  Spider Lilies (film)
  Spider Lilies is a 2007 Taiwanese lesbian drama film. It is the second feature-length film by director Zero Chou, and stars Rainie Yang and Isabella Leong in the lead roles. Spider Lilies was screened at the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Teddy Award for best feature film...
  
  – Zero Chou
  Zero Chou
  -Life:Chou was born in Keelung, Taiwan in 1969. She earned a B.A. in Philosophy from National Chengchi University in 1992. She worked as a journalist before becoming an indie film director....
  
  
• Best documentary: A walk into the sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol factory – Esther B. Robinson
• Special award: Helmut Berger
  Helmut Berger
  Helmut Berger is an Austrian-born German film and television actor. He is most famous for his work with Luchino Visconti, particularly in his performance as King Ludwig II of Bavaria in Ludwig, for which he received a special David di Donatello award.He appears primarily in European cinema, but...
  
   for his whole lifework
• Siegessäule reader award: The Bubble
  The Bubble (2006 film)
  The Bubble is a 2006 romantic drama directed by Eytan Fox telling the story of two men who fall in love, one Israeli and one Palestinian...
  
  – Eytan Fox
  Eytan Fox
  -Biography:Fox was born in New York City and moved with his family to Israel when he was two. His father, Seymour Fox, was a Conservative rabbi and a leading professor of Jewish education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His mother, Sara Kaminker-Fox, was the head of the Jerusalem city...
  
  
• Guest award: Notes on a Scandal
  Notes on a Scandal (film)
  Notes on a Scandal is a 2006 British psychological thriller film, adapted from the 2003 novel of the same name by Zoë Heller. The screenplay was written by Patrick Marber and the film was directed by Richard Eyre. Many parts of the film were shot in Islington Arts and Media School...
  
  - Richard Eyre
  Richard Eyre
  Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre CBE is an English director of film, theatre, television, and opera.-Biography:Eyre was educated at Sherborne School, an independent school for boys in the market town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset in south-west England, followed by Peterhouse at the University...
  
  
• Special award: La León
  La León
  La León is a 2007 Argentine drama written and directed by Santiago Otheguy. Set in Northern Argentina, the film tells the story of a homosexual fieldworker, Álvaro , and his relationship with a local bully, El Turu...
  
  – Santiago Otheguy
  Santiago Otheguy
  -External links:*...
  
  

2008

• Best feature film: The Amazing Truth about Queen Raquela
  The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela
  The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela is a 2008 drama film directed by Olaf de Fleur Johannesson.-Plot:Raquela, a Filipino transsexual prostitute dreams of making a new life in Paris...
  
  - Olaf de Fleur
  Olaf de Fleur
  Olaf de Fleur is an Icelandic film director and producer.He studied physics in Reykjavík, graduating in 1995. Since then he has participated in many film projects, including both feature and documentary films...
  
  
• Best documentary: Football Under Cover
  Football Under Cover
  Football Under Cover is a 2008 German/Iranian documentary film directed by David Assmann and Ayat Najafi. It follows the attempts of German Marlene Assmann and Iranian Ayat Najafi to organise a football match between Assman's team BSV Aldersimspor and the Iranian national woman's team.-Reception:At...
  
  - David Assman and Ayat Najafi
• Best short film: Ta - Felipe Sholl
• Jury award: Be Like Others
  Be Like Others
  Be Like Others is a 2008 documentary film written and directed by Tanaz Eshaghian about transsexuals in Iran. It explores issues of gender and sexuality while following the personal stories of some of the patients at a Tehran clinic...
  
  - Tanaz Eshaghian
  Tanaz Eshaghian
  Tanaz Eshaghian is an Iranian-American documentary filmmaker.Eshaghian, who left Iran with her mother at age 6, grew up in New York, went to Trinity School and graduated from Brown University in 1996 with a BA in Semiotics....
  
  
• Siegessäule reader award: Be Like Others - Tanaz Eshaghian
• Special Award Keith Collins, Simon Fisher Turner, Isaac Julien, James Mackay and Tilda Swinton

who as a family as combatants and allies of British filmmaker Derek Jarman have looked after his heritage.

2009

• Best feature film: Raging Sun, Raging Sky
  Raging Sun, Raging Sky
  Raging Sun, Raging Sky is a 2009 Mexican film made in 2008, written and directed by Julián Hernández. It won the Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.-Plot:...
  
  (Rabioso sol, rabioso cielo) - Julián Hernández
  Julian Hernández
  Julian Hernández may refer to:*Julian Hernández Santillán, Mexican politician*Julian Hernandez...
  
  
• Best documentary: Fig Trees
  Fig Trees
  Fig Trees is a 2009 Canadian operatic documentary film written and directed by John Greyson. It follows South African AIDS activist Zackie Achmat and Canadian AIDS activist Tim McCaskell as they fight for access to treatment for HIV/AIDS. It was also inspired by Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson's...
  
  – John Greyson
  John Greyson
  John Greyson is a Canadian filmmaker, whose work frequently deals with gay themes. Greyson is also a video artist, writer and activist; he is currently a professor at York University, where he teaches film and video theory and film production and editing.-Background:Greyson was born the son of...
  
  
• Best short film: A Horse Is Not A Metaphor - Barbara Hammer
  Barbara Hammer
  Barbara Hammer is an American filmmaker in the genre of experimental films and a professor at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee.-Biography:...
  
  
• Siegessäule reader award: City of Borders - Yun Suh
• Special award: Joe Dallesandro
  Joe Dallesandro
  Joseph Angelo D'Allesandro , better known as Joe Dallesandro, is an American actor, and Warhol superstar. Although he never became a mainstream film star, Dallesandro is generally considered to be the most famous male sex symbol of American underground films of the 20th century, as well as a sex...
  
  
• Special award: John Hurt
  John Hurt
  John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...
  
  

2010

• Best feature film: The Kids Are All Right
  The Kids Are All Right (film)
  The Kids Are All Right is a 2010 American comedy-drama film directed by Lisa Cholodenko and written by Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg.One of Sundance 2010's breakout hits, it opened in limited release on July 9, 2010, expanding to more theaters on July 30, 2010. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray...
  
  - Lisa Cholodenko
  Lisa Cholodenko
  Lisa Cholodenko is an American film and television writer/director. She is best known for her highly acclaimed 2010 comedy-drama The Kids Are All Right which was nominated for a number of awards including four Academy Awards, Best Picture among them.- Career :Having grown up in a Jewish family ,...
  
  
• Best documentary: The Mouth of the Wolf
  The Mouth of the Wolf
  The Mouth of the Wolf is a 2009 biographical drama/documentary film written and directed by Pietro Marcello. It premièred at the 2009 Torino Film Festival in Turin, and won the FIPRESCI Prize for 'Best Film' and the Prize of the City of Torino...
  
  - Pietro Marcello
• Best short film: The Feast Of Stephen - James Franco
  James Franco
  James Edward Franco is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author, painter, performance artist and instructor at New York University. He left college in order to pursue acting and started off his career by making guest appearances on television series in the 1990s...
  
  
• Siegessäule reader award: Postcard to Daddy - Michael Stock
• Jury award: Open - Jake Yuzna
• Special award: Werner Schroeter
  Werner Schroeter
  Werner Schroeter was a German film director and screenwriter, who some consider among the most important German writer-directors of the post-war period.-Biography:...
  
  

2011

• Best feature film: Ausente – Marco Berger
• Best documentary: The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jay – Marie Losier
  Marie Losier
  Marie Losier is an experimental filmmaker and a 2006 Whitney Biennialist. Most recently, she collaborated with filmmaker Guy Maddin on the short film "Manuelle Labor." Her film The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, a documentary centered on Genesis P-Orridge and Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge, is...
  
  
• Best short film: Generations – Barbara Hammer
  Barbara Hammer
  Barbara Hammer is an American filmmaker in the genre of experimental films and a professor at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee.-Biography:...
  
   and Gina Carducci; and Maya Deren's Sink – Barbara Hammer
• Jury award: Tomboy
  Tomboy (2011 film)
  Tomboy is a 2011 French film directed by Céline Sciamma. It tells the story of a 10-year-old girl who, after moving to a new place, has all her new acquaintances believe she is a boy. The film opened to critical acclaim, with many critics praising the directing as well as the acting.-Plot:Laure ,...
  
  – Celine Sciamma
  Céline Sciamma
  Céline Sciamma is a French screenwriter and film director.-Filmography:Director* 2007 : Water Lilies* 2009 : Pauline * 2011 : TomboyScreenwriter...
  
  
• Special award: Pieter-Dirk Uys and Evita Bezuidenhout
  Pieter-Dirk Uys
  Pieter-Dirk Uys is a South African satirist, active as a performer, author, and social activist. He is the son of a Calvinist Afrikaner father and Berlin-born Jewish mother and had an NG Kerk upbringing. He began his dramatic career as a serious playwright, switching to one-man revues at the...
  
  

External links

Berlinale Prizes of the Independent Juries

Teddy Award Home Page

Teddy Foundation Home Page