TEDDY TALENTS TALK: Listen to your Heart!
TEDDY TALENTS TALKS - Listen to your heart!
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Tuesday, February 18th
02:30pm - 04:00pmHAU2 Hebbel am Ufer, Hallesches Ufer 34, 10963 Berlin
Open event and
Tickets
are available for purchase
contingent for accredited professions
Few things are more indispensable to queer storytelling than the act of listening. For it is listening that drives both coming out and coming of age stories, where characters gradually wake up to the power of their desires and to the wonders of the world around them. It takes a lot of courage to listen to our hearts while telling these stories; doing so means undertaking major risks, both personally and professionally. In this third edition of the Teddy Talents Talks, we invite four film professionals to reflect on the boundaries they have shattered just by listening courageously, and how important the act of listening has proved in their practice.
MODERATION
Djamila Grandits
Cultural worker, Curator, Film Programmer
Pronomen she/her
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Djamila Grandits is a Vienna-based curator and film programmer. Part of CineCollective and D—Arts. Currently working on the pre-selection committee of Berlinale Panorama and as member of the non-fiction commission of Zürcher Filmstiftung. Previously programmed with Diagonale, DOK Leipzig, Kasseler Dokfest, sixpackfilm and tricky women - tricky realities. Djamila cares about entanglements and the exploration of collective spaces.
PANELISTS
Faridah Gbadamosi
Senior Programmer, Tribeca Film Festival
Pronouns she/they
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Faridah is a pop culture-lover of film, working towards making the space more inclusive in whose stories get told and who gets to author those stories. She has extensive experience as a film programmer, working at organizations like Frameline, the California Film Institute, Athena Film Festival, SIFF, and many more. In addition to her curation work, Faridah has provided consultations to several film/TV projects and non-profit organizations, published articles on different media topics, taught film courses, and even worked as Director of Distribution, handling the virtual theatrical release of the Peabody Award-winning film MR. SOUL!. She is serving as the Chair of the Board of the Anarchist United Foundation, an organization founded by Lily Wachowski that provides grants and development opportunities for filmmakers from historically excluded communities. She is also on the community board for The Gathering Spot. She currently works at Tribeca Enterprises as a Senior Programmer.
Connor Jessup
Actor, Writer, Director
"JULIAN AND THE WIND" - Generation
Pronouns he/him
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The Canadian actor, writer and director is best known for his leading roles in the series Locke & Key and American Crime, and for the independent feature film Closet Monster. His short films have screened in Toronto, Clermont-Ferrand, Palm Springs and many other international festivals. In 2018, he directed a documentary portrait of the Palme d’Or-winning Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul for The Criterion Collection.
Jun Li
Writer, Director
"QUEERPANORAMA" - Panorama
Pronouns he/they

Jun Li is a filmmaker based in New York City and Hong Kong. He started his film career as the lead actor in Simon Chung's I Miss You When I See You.
His directorial feature includes Tracey (2018) and Drifting (2021), selected by IFFR and Tokyo IFF.
He co-produced Fly Me To The Moon (2023) with Stanley Kwan.
Li's latest film Queerpanorama is premiering at Berlinale Panorama in 2025.
Paulina Lorenz
Writer, Producer, Co-founder Jünglinge Film
Pronouns she/her

Paulina Lorenz is a Berlin-based writer and producer, as well as (co-)founder of JÜNGLINGE FILM. The young, artist-led production company develops and produces feature films and series with a queer-feminist, post-migrant point of view, such as the feature film FUTUR DREI/NO HARD FEELINGS (2020) or the ARD series SCHWARZE FRÜCHTE/BLACK FRUIT (2024). Paulina also works as a screenwriter for formats such as DRUCK/SKAM GERMANY (Funk, 2021), KRANK Berlin (Apple TV+/ZDF, 2024) and EUPHORIE/EUPHORIA GERMANY (RTL+, 2025).