…There’s not much to
complain
about about the
world’s premiere queer film award, the Teddys…
I was just hoping
this could be more
entertaining.
But may be I was
seated too well.
I’m struggling to find
any kind of thread
to tie together the LGBT
films this year
– issues, problems, causes –
but on the whole, the
films (and the winners)
seem to be a class
above last year’s.
Of course, there were
some heavy topics
(Veronika Lišková’s Czech documentary,
Daniel’s
World, on pedophilia)
but in general this
year felt like a programme
with agenda.
Last year’s absence of
lesbian films
at the Berlinale
prompted a large
effort this year
get them visibly into
the festival.
That said, there were
still
no lesbian winners at
this year’s Teddys.
I have to be honest
and say
that I caught just a
few of the films beforehand,
so my congratulations
on them are real,
but reserved.
Best short film went
to
Omar Zúñiga Hidalgo’s
“San Cristobal”,
a bit of a Chilean Brokeback
Mountain tale.
El
hombre Nuevo, by Aldo
Garay,
took home the best
documentary,
a film about a
transwoman, despite the confusing title, in Uruguay
and her struggles.
And the best feature,
starring the endlessly
lovable Kristin Wiig,
is Sebastián Silva’s Nasty Baby,
a film about a woman
who tries
to conceive a child
with her gay best friends.
All well and neatly
packaged.
The night did serve up
a bit of fun,
unsurprisingly so in
the form of the honorary Teddy’s
for Udo Kier
and Rainer Werner
Fassbinder.
Udo’s presence would
have been enough,
but his self-curated
montage of film clips
delightfully begun
with his birth…
…his very graphic
onscreen birth,
as depicted in Lars
von Trier’s Kingdom TV series.
The clips proceeded
to get even better
from there
and ended
with a clip
of him winking and asking,
“What would have the Führer thought?”
I for one want that
on DVD.
Fassbinder’s award
was accompanied by a
splendid performance
by his actress, singer
and one-time wife,
Ingrid Caven.
I’m not sure if the
first fabulous song
was intentionally
unintelligible
(German? English?
Huh?),
but that’s how I want
my chansons
served up
and surviving.
Her kind of beauty
can’t be learned…
Giulia Dobre
