Sheriff Teddy

Berlin in the 1950s. Kalle, 13, lives with his family in Wedding in West Berlin. He is crazy about Wild West novels. Proudly sporting a sheriff’s star on his jacket, he is the leader of the “Teddy Gang”, a clique of boys of his age. When Kalle’s family moves to the eastern sector of the city, he finds it difficult to adjust to his new surroundings. His self-confident, gruff manner, a tendency to boast and his interest in pulp fiction don’t exactly endear him to his new classmates. A particular rivalry develops between Kalle and fellow pupil Andreas.
Sheriff Teddy is being screened at the presentation of the eighth Heiner Carow Prize. This year, for the first time, the DEFA Foundation will be conferring its €5,000 award on a German documentary, feature or essay film from the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section. The jury members this year are filmmaker and last year’s award-winner Annekatrin Hendel, Anne Möller from the DEFA Foundation and filmmaker Jan Speckenbach.

This event is barrier-free. Sheriff Teddy will be screened with German subtitles for the hearing-impaired and audio description. There will also be sign language and live speech-to-text interpretation at the award ceremony.
by Heiner Carow
with Gerhard Kuhn, Axel Dietz, Günther Simon, Erich Franz, Else Wolz, Helga Göring, Hartmut Reck, Gerhard Rachold, Fred Düren, Rolf Ripperger
German Democratic Republic 1957 German 68’ Black/White

With

  • Gerhard Kuhn (Kalle)
  • Axel Dietz (Andreas)
  • Günther Simon (Teacher Freitag)
  • Erich Franz (Mr. Becker)
  • Else Wolz (Mrs. Becker)
  • Helga Göring (Mrs. Müller)
  • Hartmut Reck (Robbi)
  • Gerhard Rachold (Mucki)
  • Fred Düren (Konsumpacker)
  • Rolf Ripperger (Young Officer)

Crew

Director Heiner Carow
Written by Benno Pludra
Cinematography Götz Neumann
Editing Friedel Welsandt
Music Günter Klück
Sound Gerhard Hoffmann
Production Design Alfred Tolle
Costumes Helga Scherff
Make-Up Hanns Wosnik
Assistant Director Eleonore Dressel
Production Manager Paul Ramacher

Produced by

DEFA-Studio für Spielfilme

Heiner Carow

Born in Rostock in 1929, he died in Berlin in 1997. At 21 he joined the directing class at the DEFA training school in East Berlin. Following numerous short documentaries, he transferred to the DEFA feature film studio. He directed successful children's and youth films and, from the 1970s, feature films for adults. Die Legende von Paul und Paula (1972/73) became his greatest success. He won the Silver Bear at the 1990 Berlinale for Coming Out.

Filmography

1953 Ein Schritt weiter; short documentary 1954 Dorf im Herbst; short documentary · Der Strukturbohrer [Jg.1954 / Folge 06]; short documentary, co-director: Alfred Siegert, Lothar Devaal · Die Wette gilt; short documentary · Forschen und Schaffen. Folge VI; short documentary, Co-director: Alfred Siegert, Lothar Devaal 1956 Martins Tagebuch; short documentary 1957 Sheriff Teddy 1959 Sie nannten ihn Amigo 1960 Das Leben beginnt 1961 Mongolia; documentary 1964 Die Hochzeit von Länneken 1966 Die Reise nach Sundevit 1968 Die Russen kommen; Forbidden film, premiere in 1987 1971 Karriere 1973 Die Legende von Paul und Paula 1975 Ikarus 1978 Bis daß der Tod euch scheidet 1989 Coming out · Zweiradshow; short documentary, co-director: Jürgen Voigt 1992 Verfehlung

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020