More than 80 current and former Berlinale participants, including Javier Bardem, Tilda Swinton and Adam McCall, have signed an open letter condemning the festival’s “silence” on Gaza.
This comes after the film festival was called a “media storm” over the sidelining of political discourse at the event.
The row was sparked by jury president Wim Wenders’ comment at the opening press conference that filmmakers should “stay away from politics” in response to questions about the Israel-Gaza conflict and the German government’s support for Israel.
While there was a backlash, including the withdrawal of Indian author Arundhati Roy from the event, festival director Tricia Tuttle released a statement during press conferences defending filmmakers and actors who were increasingly pressed on political and social issues.
“Artists can exercise their right to free speech in any way they choose,” Tuttle said. “Artists should not be expected to comment on all the broader debates over which they have no control over previous or current practices of the festival. Nor should they be expected to speak on every political issue raised until they want to.”
But on Tuesday, major industry figures accused Berlinale of “censoring” artists who spoke out, Variety reported.
Signatories Angeliki Papoulia, Saleh Bakri, Tatiana Maslany, Peter Mullan and Tobias Menzies, as well as directors Mike Lee, Lucas Dhont, Nan Goldin, Miguel Gomes and Avi Mograbi, said they “vehemently disagree” with Wenders’ views on cinema and politics. “You can’t tell one from the other,” they said, “and the tide is changing across the international film world”.
They cited the refusal of more than 5,000 film workers, including many major Hollywood names, to work with “complete Israeli film companies and institutions.” The letter also noted that Berlinale had previously made “clear statements” about other “atrocities,” including in Ukraine.
“We call on Berlinale to fulfill its moral responsibility and come clean against Israel’s genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Palestinians, and to completely end its involvement in shielding Israel from criticism and accountability,” they said.
Politically oriented questions at the Berlinale have dominated headlines and social media over the past week. High-profile guests on political topics, often with limited connection to the films they were promoting, included US actor Neil Patrick Harris – asked if cinema could fight fascism, UK star Rupert Grint – also asked about fascism, and Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh – asked for her thoughts on the current state of the US.
Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello, who co-directed the music documentary The Ballad of Judas Priest, said: “What a time to live, where you can both make a documentary about one of your favorite bands and fight fascism at the same time” – applause was reported from the journalists’ room.
“There are many kinds of art and many ways to be political,” Tuttle said. Filmmakers, she said, are being criticized “when a microphone is put in front of them when they think they’re talking about something else” if they can’t condense complex ideas into a succinct sound.
