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Indian Filmmaker & Curator Saagar Gupta on Teddy Awards Jury at Berlinale 2026 Saagar Gupta, artistic director of KASHISH Pride Film Festival, has been invited to be on the prestigious Teddy Awards Jury which celebrates its 40th anniversary of the Teddy Award at the 76th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival, one of the top 3 film festivals in the world. The 2026 Berlinale which opens on Thu, 12 Feb, 2026 and runs till Sun, 22 Feb, 2026 will screen numerous LGBTQ+ feature films, documentaries and short films that are juried by a five member Teddy Jury. This year the jury features KASHISH Pride Film Festival’s artistic director and filmmaker Saagar Gupta along with Skadi Loist, Associate Professor of Film Studies, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway); Sigal Yehuda, Founder & Executive Director, Close Up Initiative (Belgium); Ray Yeung, Screenwriter & Film Director and Executive Director of Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival (Hong Kong); and Daniela Vega, Actress, operatic singer, writer and producer (Chile) whose acting credits include the academy award winning film A Fantastic Woman. She was also the first transgender presenter at the Oscars in 2018. Saagar Gupta said, “Being part of the Berlinale Teddy Awards Jury is deeply meaningful to me, both personally and professionally. The Teddy has long been at the forefront of celebrating queer cinema with courage, rigor, and global relevance. To engage with stories from across cultures at such a pivotal platform is an honour and a responsibility—to champion voices that expand representation and reaffirm the transformative power of queer storytelling in world cinema.” Saagar Gupta is an award winning screenwriter and filmmaker who has written screenplay, dialogues and lyrics for noted films like Evening Shadows and Kuch Sapney Apne. He was one of the program fellows at the prestigious Global Media Makers initiative of Film Independent (USA). He is also one of the founders of the KASHISH Pride Film Festival, founded in 2010, and over the past 16 years recognized as South Asia’s biggest LGBTQ+ film festival and also one of India’s important mainstream film festivals. He has also curated and programmed for other festivals like Flashpoint Human Rights Film Festival and Waterfront Independent Film Festival. Saagar Gupta’s travel is supported by German Consulate General in Mumbai, Goethe Institut Mumbai, and Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, a German political foundation with offices worldwide. Britta Petersen, resident representative of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung South Asia said of the support to Gupta, “We are happy to support Saagar’s travel to Berlin and his role in the jury of the Teddy Awards. In times when minority and queer rights are under attack worldwide, we have to jointly fight for open societies and social justice. Cinema is an important medium to reach out to people with a message of love and diversity.” Björn Ketels, Director, Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai, said of the support offered to Gupta, “Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai promotes cultural exchange, and believes in programs that are inclusive and engage with larger civil society concerns. Teddy Awards is one of the most prestigious awards that celebrates LGBTQIA+ cinema in Germany – as jury member, Saagar Gupta, would have a chance to engage with films and filmmakers that focus on queer topics in multiple meaningful ways, it would help broaden the networks of KASHISH film festival as well as Goethe-Institut Mumbai and aid in bringing good sensitive cinema to Mumbai”. Goethe Institut Mumbai is also supporting the participation of Sridhar Rangayan, festival director of KASHISH Pride Film Festival’s participation in Berlinale and the European Film Market. Sridhar Rangayan said, “We are hugely grateful to the supporters of mine and Saagar’s travel to Germany to participate in Berlinale. It means a lot not only to both of us, but also to KASHISH Pride Film Festival’s outreach efforts as well as visibility of the Indian LGBTQ+ community in the international festival space”.