TEDDY Directors Exchange #2
Abschnitt Info
Films that resist the mainstream, confronting racist structures, genre conventions, and exploring queer resistance alongside gender and body politics, form a vital core of this year’s program. This exchange considers the significance of such works in relation to the cultural and political moment we inhabit, and asks whether, and in what ways, these films might serve a broader purpose beyond the screen.
Date: Monday, 16.02.26
Location: HUB75, Marlene-Dietrich-Platz 1, 10785, Berlin
Start: 11:00
Free entry
Moderator:
Djamila Grandits
Cultural worker, Curator, Film Programmer
Pronouns: she/her
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. Former member of the non-fiction commission of Zürcher Filmstiftung. Previously programmed with Diagonale, DOK Leipzig, Kasseler Dokfest, sixpackfilm, frameout and tricky women - tricky realities. Her practice is grounded in care and curiosity for moving image practices, collective and speculative curatorial movements.
Directors:
Natalie Erika James
Director, Saccharine, Berlinale Special
Pronouns: she/her
Natalie Erika James is a Japanese-Australian writer/director and producer focused on dark genre stories told with heart.
Her debut psychological horror, RELIC, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim, going on to screen at festivals including BFI, SXSW and Sitges, where it was awarded a Special Mention for Direction. RELIC also received a nomination for Best Feature at the 2020 IFP Gotham Awards, as well as nominations for Best Film, Best Direction, and Best Screenplay at the 2020 AACTA Awards.
RELIC stars Emily Mortimer, Bella Heathcote and Robyn Nevin, and was produced by Carver Films, in partnership with Jake Gyllenhaal’s Nine Stories, and the Russo Brothers’ AGBO Films, and was released in July 2020 digitally and theatrically in the United States by IFC Midnight. Natalie also co-wrote and directed APARTMENT 7A, a prequel to ROSEMARY’S BABY for Paramount Pictures, starring Julia Garner, Dianne Wiest and Jim Sturgess.
Her latest feature, SACCHARINE, is a psychological body horror starring Midori Francis, Danielle Macdonald and Madeleine Madden. The film premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and was made in partnership with Carver Films, XYZ Films, Stan, Maslow Entertainment, Screen Australia and Screen Victoria.
Gaël Kamilindi
Director, Taxi Moto, Berlinale Shorts
Pronouns: he/him
Graduated of the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Paris (2011), Gaël Kamilindi, originally from Rwanda, has worked with directors such as Bob Wilson, Jean-Pierre Vincent, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Denis Podalydès, Ivo van Hove, and Thomas Ostermeier. He has also collaborated with filmmakers including Mona Achache, Philippe Garrel, Éléonore Pourriat, Stéphane Ly-Cuong, Mélanie Laurent, and Catherine Corsini. Since February 2017, he has been a member of the Comédie-Française troupe. In 2024, he directed Didy, his first feature-length documentary, together with François-Xavier Destors. The film was released in Swiss theaters on February 5, 2025, and next april in France.
The film has been selected by numerous festivals (Visions du Réel, IDFA, Pessac History Film Festival, Encounters, FESPACO, etc.) and received the Best Documentary Award at both the Mashariki African Film Festival and the Brussels International Film Festival. In Stockholm, it received the Youth Award at the Tempo Documentary Festival, as well as the AGNÈS Prize at the FIFF in Namur. Between 2021 and 2024, he co-directed Les resquilleurs, a 35' poetic and experimental trilogy, entirely self-produced, together with Ozal Emier.
Faraz Shariat
Director, Prosecution, Panorama
Pronouns: he/him
Faraz Shariat is an German-Iranian filmmaker, who's mould-breaking coming-of-age feature debut Futur Drei premiered to great reception at Berlinale 2020, before going on to win the festival’s two Teddy Awards for Best Queer Film and The Reader’s Award. Produced by his production company JÜNGLINGE, and partly autobiographical, Futur Drei is the story of a confidently “out" second-generation German-born Iranian who falls for an Iranian refugee who has recently arrived in the West. Exploring the nexus of race, displacement, and sexuality in a modern, multicultural society, Faraz describes Futur Drei as unabashedly “feminist, anti-racist and queer” in its approach to story-telling, and an example of “Activist Popcorn Cinema” – a genre of filmmaking that uses a broadly appealing pop-culture lens to examine hard-hitting issues about identity and community.
Since then, Faraz has directed episodes for the highly acclaimed series adaptation DRUCK, as well as for the British high-end horror comedy THE BABY (HBO/Sky) and German true crime anthology series ZEIT VERBRECHEN (Paramount+). He executive produced SCHWARZE FRÜCHTE (ARD), a dramedy that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2024 and was released to wide critical acclaim in Germany in October 2024.
Faraz Shariat is a fellow of Villa Aurora in Los Angeles and is currently developing his English-language debut THE BEACH BOY, together with Ottessa Moshfegh. His second feature film, Staatsschutz, will be released in German cinemas in 2026.