TEDDY TALK: Queer Creations Part 2

Cerise Howard 
Cerise Howard was appointed as Program Director of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival in May 2023. She hails from Aotearoa New Zealand and has for several years been a co-curator of the Melbourne Cinémathèque. She co-founded the Czech and Slovak Film Festival of Australia and was its Artistic Director from 2013-2018; she was also a co-founding member of tilde: Melbourne Trans and Gender Diverse Film Festival. She has been a Studio Leader at RMIT University since 2019, specialising in courses interrogating the shortcomings of the canon and incubating film festivals. She is a long-time commentator and widely published writer on film; a regular broadcaster on Melbourne radio station 3RRR, and was a member of the International Jury Board of the East-West: Golden Arch Awards, celebrating Eurasian cinema, between 2018 and 2021.

Katja Briesemeister 
I've been involved in the organisation and programme planning at the Hamburg International Queer Film Festival since 2009. Since 2012, I have also been responsible for putting together the short film programmes.Together with Philipp Aubel, I have been organising the Queerscope Short Film Fund since its inception in 2019.

Andrew Murphy
Andrew Murphy is the Co-Head and Artistic Director for the Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival, based in Toronto. Andrew brings more than two decades of festival, industry, and curatorial experience to the organization, having joined initially as Director of Programming in 2012. 
While currently leading the artistic direction for the organization, Andrew initiated the organization's Industry programs, including the world's first and only LGBTQ+ film financing forum, now in its 8th year. 
Prior to Inside Out, Andrew served as Programming Manager for over a decade at the Atlantic International Film Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he co-created its youth film festival and school programs, as well as securing galas, special presentations, genre and queer content. 
Andrew has served on numerous panels and festival juries over the course of his career including the Berlin Film Festival’s Teddy Jury, Palm Springs Short Film Festival, Outfest, and Cardiff's Iris Prize Festival. Andrew has a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, and a Bachelor of Journalism and is still finding creative ways to put them to use. 
Inside Out will celebrate its 34th edition from May 24 - June 1, 2024. 

Allegra Madsen 
Allegra Madsen is the Director of Programming at Frameline San Francisco LGBTQ+ Film Festival, the largest and longest running queer film festival in the world. In addition to Frameline’s year-round programming, Allegra curates the annual film festival with the goal of celebrating queer cinema, creating shared experiences and shaping the world through storytelling.    

Lilla Puskas
Lilla Puskas is a funding executive at Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg. She worked as a sales manager at M-appeal world sales and as a freelance film journalist for various online media. She holds a master´s degree in Film Studies from Eötvös Lorand University Budapest and completed the training program NEXT WAVE at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB).

Nastaran Tajeri-Foumani
Nastaran Tajeri-Foumani is a non-binary queerfeminist presenter, activist, musician, parent and lecturer*researcher. Nastaran focuses on topics such as intersectional queerfeminism, social justice and anti-racist/anti-discriminatory practices, and queer themes in film and art. For over 15 years, Nastaran has moderated and curated various political panels and film talks. In addition, Nastaran works as a moderator for the Berlin Film Festival's Panorama section and curates queer short film programs internationally.