40th Teddy Award

Introduction to the Queer Films

The Head of the Panorama Section, Michael Stütz, and programme managers from the Berlinale sections present the films in the running for the 40th TEDDY AWARD.

TEDDY 40: Queer Cinema, Activism, and Cultural Impact

TEDDY Jury Reception

We are excited to introduce the International Jury for the 40th TEDDY AWARD.

WILD AT HEART: Rooms That Became Revolutions

Born from a small group of queer festival programmers, the TEDDY predated its iconic role at the Berlinale. Revisiting its origins shows how it reshaped Berlin’s queer cultural sphere and what it meant for activists and filmmakers to see that defiant political force embedded in the festival’s core.

WILD AT HEART: The TEDDY as a Catalyst

Queer cinema accelerates cultural energy, and festivals act as its catalysts. Growing from local collectives into important community events, they form key distribution circuits. How has the TEDDY fortified this international festival network and influenced the evolution of the queer film ecosystem?

Directors Exchange - Cinematic Inheritance: Pioneers and Emerging Voices

From trailblazing filmmakers such as Barbara Hammer and Cheryl Dunye to emerging voices like Brydie O'Connor, Sophie Heldman and Sanduela Asanda, we reflect on the legacies that have shaped today’s cinematic landscape.

Directors Exchange - Standing in the Way of Control

Films that resist the mainstream, confronting racist structures, genre conventions, and exploring queer resistance alongside gender and body politics, form a vital core of this year’s program.

WILD AT HEART: Community as Infrastructure in Queer Film Culture

TEDDY events cultivate rare intimacy, drawing global film communities into queer‑centered spaces of exchange. These gatherings show how queer cinema forges and sustains community while reshaping audiences, programming, and the shared cultural experience of watching oneself reflected on screen.

TEDDY Talents Talks - Confusion as Catalyst: Queering Cinema Beyond Boundaries

Four film professionals explore how queer cinema harnesses ambiguity, resists categorization, and uses formal disruption to generate new ways of seeing from the margins.

WILD AT HEART: Subversive Reimagining of Cinematic Spaces

The TEDDY excelled in defying cinematic and cultural norms with gleeful subversion. By challenging market rules and spotlighting fearless queer storytelling, it hijacked mainstream screens, rattled expectations, and rewired the global map of queer film culture. 

TEDDY Talk: Queer Creations Part 4

The Queer-Creation Talks serve as a platform for exploration, analysis, and connection within the queer film ecosystem—bringing together individuals, organizations, and initiatives that shape and support queer cinema.

Queer Your Program; Speedy Film Pitches – EFM

Several filmmakers whose films are ready for distribution will present their projects in two-minute pitches to program designers, distributors, and sales agents.

Queer Industry Reception – EFM

The annual gathering of industry professionals from the Queer Film Industry, from filmmakers to programmers, to distributors and sales agents at Gropius Bau.

WILD AT HEART: Embedding Queer Cinema in Industry Structures

Queer cinema, long sustained by communal networks and hybrid creative strategies, thrives on alliance‑building. Within this lineage, how has the TEDDY engineered its own bridges and strategic partnerships to embed queer film more decisively within market structures?