Lesbian Film Takes Home Berlinale Gay Prize
- By
- On Top Magazine Staff
- | February 20, 2010
The Kids Are All Right has won the Teddy Bear at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival, also known as Berlinale.
The film stars Academy Award nominees Julianne Moore and Annette Bening as a lesbian couple whose kids seek out their biological father. The introduction of Paul (played by Mark Ruffalo, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) into their home alters family dynamics in unexpected ways.
“The Teddy for the Best Feature Film goes to Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right for being a well-crafted and humorous take on the issues facing contemporary lesbian parents and the complexity of sexuality, relationships and family bonding,” the eight-member jury said in a statement.
Also in competition for the prize were Howl and Loose Cannons (Mine Vaganti).
The Teddys recognize the best gay and lesbian cinema at the festival. Last year, Mexican director Julian Hernandez took home the prize with Raging Sun, Raging Sky (Rabioso Sol, Rabioso Cielo).
Kids got a buzzy premiere in January at the Sundance Film Festival, where Focus Features acquired domestic and select international rights to the film.
Speaking to Reuters after the premiere, Moore, 49, said the film was a “portrait of a marriage and a family.”
“I don't think it matters what your sexuality is,” she added. “For Annette and I, we've both been married, we both have children, we know what it's like to parent, we know what it's like to be in a long-term relationship.”
Cholodenko also directed the lesbian drama High Art.
Director Pietro Marcello's The Mouth of the Wolf (La Bocca Del Lupo) won in the Best Documentary category and The Feast of Stephen, directed by James Franco, won Best Short Film.