Only Three Lesbian Movies in the Running for a Teddy Award

By Saskia Joreen on Friday, February 19, 2010 - 12:14

The 24th edition of the world’s most important queer film awards, the Teddy Awards, will take place tonight in Berlin, Germany.

The Teddy Awards are a part of the annual Berlin International Film Festival, the Berlinale. There are three Teddy Awards to be given away for Best Feature Film, Best Documentary and Best Short Film. A little disappointing for us lesBians is the fact that out of more than fifty films that are in the running for an award, only three(!) can be actually described as lesBian movies.

The three lesBian nominees are Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right - which was met with cheers at the festival earlier this week –, Cheryl Dunye’s The Owls, and Miguel Albaladejo’s Nacidas para sufrir. You can find out more about these movies in our previous post about the Berlinale.

Director Lisa Cholodenko and actress Julianne Moore at this year’s Berlinale (AFPTV)

Although I definitely recognize and respect what the Teddy Awards mean for queer movies and filmmakers all around the world, this relatively small number of lesBian nominees leaves me with some questions.

Were there simply not many lesBian submissions to the film festival to begin with? And if that’s the case, why? It’s not like these three movies are the only lesBian-themed movies that came out recently. Or did some lesBian submissions perhaps fail to meet the criteria to be included in the festival’s selection? And if so, what would those criteria be?

If I find the answers to these questions, I’ll be sure to let you know. For now, though, I wish all nominees good luck - may the best movie win. Find out more about tonight’s programme here and check back next week for our coverage of the ceremony!