Wieland Speck (* 1951 in Freiburg im Breisgau is a German film director, who since 1992 has coordinated "Panorama" at the International Filmfestival Berlin (Berlinale). Panorama showcases new films by established directors, as well as debut works by up-and-coming talents.[1]
Biography
Since 1972, he started living in Berlin. He studied German, Theater and Ethnology at the Free University of Berlin. Since the mid-1970s, Speck has been engaged in various areas of film and video as well as author and publisher.
In the late 1970s, he was managing director of the Tali-Kino, an independent arthouse cinema in Berlin-Kreuzberg (later called "Moviemento").
From 1979 to 1981 he completed a film study at the San Francisco Art Institute.[2]
Between 1982 and 1992 Speck worked with the German film director Manfred Salzgeber producing LGBT-themed films and shorts. He is the co-creator of the Teddy Award,[3] (with Manfred Salzgeber) which since 1987 was awarded to LGBT films at the Berlinale.
In 1985, he produced his first feature film Westler.[5][6]
He was a panel member of the Berlin State Film Fund (1990–1993) and the Hamburg Film Fund (1994–1998) and from 1992 to 2017 he was head of the Panorama section of the Berlinale.[2]
^ abAlice A. Kuzniar (2000). The Queer German Cinema. Stanford University Press. p. 188. ISBN978-0-8047-3995-5. Among the gay male directors who merit more attention than space unfortunately allows, Wieland Speck is probably the best known--but more for his feature-length film, Westler, East of the Wall (1985), and for his programming as director of the Panorama section at the Berlin film festival, than for his shorts.
