Two Latin American films, from Brazil and Colombia, took top honors at the 36th annual edition of the Teddy Awards, an international accolade for films with LGBTQ topics at the Berlin Film Festival presented by an independent jury.
The Brazilian film Three Tidy Tigers Tied a Tie Tighter / Três tigres tristes by director Gustavo Vinagre received the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film, while the Colombian film Alis by Clare Weiskopf and Nicolás van Hemelryck was presented the Teddy Award for Best Documentary.
Three Tidy Tigers Tied a Tie Tighter, which had its world premiere in the Forum section of the Berlinale, is set in São Paulo, in a dystopian future not so very far from the present. A virus is circulating, one that mainly attacks the brain and the ability to remember. A state that has forgotten a past marked by colonialism and dictatorship desperately awaits some indeterminate “Golden Phase.” Three young queer people drift through a city bled dry by the pandemic and rampant capitalism, remembering each another’s late lovers, sharing their experiences with HIV, getting makeup tips for masked faces and ultimately coming together with others forgotten by society for an antique revue in the salon of a singer named Mirta.
The second documentary feature by Weiskopf and van Hemelryck (Amazona), which had its world premiere in the K14plus competition the Berlinale, wining the Crystal Bear for Best Film, follows eight teenage girls living in a public boarding school in Bogota, who dream up Alis, a fictional character. As their voices intertwine, the character comes to life revealing their past experiences, dreams and sufferings. The innocent game becomes a descent into hell where their luminous faces guide us to the depths of the dark world they once inhabited only to emerge with new skin, thus breaking the cycle of violence and embracing a brighter future.
Other past Latin American Teddy Award winners from years past include the Cuban film Strawberry and Chocolate by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío, the Mexican film A Thousand Clouds of Peace by Julián Hernández, and the Chilean film A Fantastic Woman by Sebastián Lelio.
