Hedwig, Trembling score Teddys in Berlin

John Cameron Mitchell’s transsexual rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Sandi Dubowski’s documentary Trembling Before G-d took top prizes at the Teddy Awards, given to gay and lesbian films, at the 51st annual Berlin Film Festival, according to indieWIRE.com. Hedwig was honored as Best Feature while Trembling, about gay Orthodox Jews, received Best Documentary. Also picking up an award at the ceremony, which featured acrobats and a surprise performance by rocker Nina Hagen, was David Wiroth’s Ere Mela Mela, which won for Best Short Film. Actress Lili Taylor, who plays a lesbian in the festival film Julie Johnson, presented a Special Teddy Award to longtime festival director Moritz de Hadeln, who is leaving the Berlinale after 22 years. De Hadeln made the Teddy an official prize at the festival in 1992, and it remains the only prize of its kind at a major international film festival. “I do hope that my successors don’t forget the past history of this festival and this town and what was done to gay people not so very long ago,” De Hadeln said.