The Teddy Award is an international film award for films with LGBT topics, presented by an independent jury as an official award of the Berlin International Film Festival. For the most part, the jury consists of organisers of gay and lesbian film festivals, who view films screened in all sections of the Berlinale; films do not have to have been part of the festival's official competition stream to be eligible for Teddy awards. 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 2017 Special Teddy Award trophy for Monika Treut at the Altonaer Museum
The Teddy Award statue located in the Schwules Museum
Pedro Almodóvar won Best Feature Film at the inaugural ceremony in 1987 for Law of Desire.
Two short films directed by Gus Van Sant, My New Friend and Five Ways to Kill Yourself, won the first Best Short Film award in 1987.
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale, is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europe's "Big Three" film festivals alongside the Venice Film Festival held in Italy and the Cannes Film Festival held in France. Furthermore, it is one of the "Big Five", the most prestigious film festivals in the world. The festival regularly draws tens of thousands of visitors each year.
Delphi Filmpalast
Berlinale Palast (aka Theater am Potsdamer Platz), main venue since 2000
Werner Herzog, 2010 jury president
Conference after a screening