TEDDY events are defined by an atmosphere of rare intimacy. Filmmakers, programmers, producers and distributors from across the world return year after year to cultivate spaces of exchange – whether in cinema foyers, panel discussions or gatherings throughout the city – disrupting established structures with distinctly queer perspectives. These encounters underscore how queer cinema not only builds and sustains community spaces but also reshapes audiences, programming practices and the conversations that emerge around them. Arsenal, one of Germany’s most forward‑looking film institutions, has championed queer cinema from its earliest days. Among its founding members was Manfred Salzgeber – later the inaugural head of the Berlinale’s <em class="program">Panorama</em> and co‑founder of the TEDDY Award – whose influence helped shape its commitment to queer film culture. In 1971, Rosa von Praunheim’s <em class="film-other">It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives</em> premiered there, a watershed moment that reverberated across Germany and soon circulated through queer film communities and festivals worldwide. The act of gathering to watch films in which one’s own experiences are reflected has long defined the queer film festival as more than a screening venue. It is a communal space where representation becomes shared recognition, and where viewing together becomes an essential part of the cultural and political experience of queer cinema.