We are excited to introduce the International Jury for the 40th TEDDY AWARD. Five experienced film and festival professionals review all films with a queer main storyline from the Berlinale’s Queer List, nominate three films in each category, and select the winners in the categories of Best Feature Film, Best Short Film, and Best Documentary/Essay Film. In addition, they award the TEDDY JURY AWARD.

Saagar Gupta

Pronouns: he/his

Saagar Gupta is a Mumbai-based film curator, producer, screenwriter, and the co-founder and Artistic Director of the KASHISH Pride Film Festival, South Asia’s leading LGBTQ+ film festival, a role he has held for 16 years. His internationally recognised curatorial work, particularly in LGBTQ+ short films, is noted for its rigour and contextual depth. He served as Senior Programmer at Film Bazaar 2022, organised by NFDC alongside IFFI, and was part of the Co-Production Market team.

In 2024, he was selected for the Global Media Makers Fellowship by Film Independent (the U.S.), developing his upcoming feature Songs of Eternal Love. Through Solaris Pictures, co-founded in 2001 with his life partner Sridhar Rangayan, he has championed Indian LGBTQ+ visibility through landmark films including The Pink Mirror (2003), Evening Shadows (2018), and Kuch Sapney Apne (2024). As a producer, his films including the National Award–winning Breaking Free (2015) have won over 35 international awards and screened at more than 250 film festivals worldwide.

Skadi Loist

Pronouns: they/hen

Skadi Loist is Associate Professor of Film Studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. With long-standing involvement in queer film cultures across festivals, networks, and academia, they earned a PhD on Queer Film Culture and have published widely on film festivals, queer cinema, and diversity and sustainability in the media industries. Skadi is co-editor of Film Festivals: History, Theory, Method, Practice (2016) and the anniversary volume Bildschön on the Lesbisch Schwule Filmtage Hamburg (2009).

Daniela Vega

Pronouns: she/her

Daniela Vega is a Chilean actress, operatic singer, writer, and producer. Her leading role in A Fantastic Woman (2017) brought her international recognition, with the film becoming the first Chilean production to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. She also made history as the first transgender woman to present at the Academy Awards. In 2018, Time magazine included her in its list of the 100 most influential people in the world. 

She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Daniela has worked across Spanish-, English-, and Italian-language productions, with notable roles in the series Tales of the City (USA), The Power (UK), La Jauría (Chile), Once Upon a Time… Happily Never After (Spain), and La Rebelión (Mexico). Her film work includes Technoboys (Mexico), Futura (Italy), La Visita, and Run Over (Chile). She has also worked as a producer and was part of the documentary Peace, Peace, Now, Now. 

She is the author of Rebeldía, resistencia y amor (Planeta Publishing) and is currently preparing her next book. Daniela has received multiple Best Actress awards, including the 2018 Platino Awards (Mexico), the Palm Springs International Film Festival (USA), and the Havana International Festival of New Latin American Cinema (Cuba), among others. 

Sigal Yehuda

Pronouns: she/her

Sigal Yehuda is an internationally recognized documentary leader with over 18 years of experience championing independent filmmakers from Southwest Asia and North Africa. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Close Up, a Brussels-based organization at the forefront of artistic and industry support for bold documentary voices. 

Her work has shaped some of the most celebrated documentaries of the past decade, including the Academy Award and European Film Award–winning No Other Land (2025), Hollywoodgate (Academy Award Shortlist 2025), Q (Best Documentary, Tribeca 2024), Midnight Traveler (Berlinale & Sundance Special Award), and the Oscar-nominated Five Broken Cameras. 

She regularly serves on juries, selection committees, and pitching forums for leading international festivals and institutions and is a member of the European Film Academy. 

Ray Yeung

Pronouns: he/his

Ray Yeung's latest feature, All Shall Be Well, had its world premiere at the 2024 Berlinale International Film Festival, where it won the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film. This marks Yeung's third feature, following Suk Suk (Twilight’s Kiss), which premiered at the 2019 Busan International Film Festival and the 2020 Berlinale. In 2021, he was honored as the Artist of the Year in Film by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. Additionally, Yeung has served as the Executive Director of the Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival since 2000.