On-stage comments at this year’s Berlinale awards ceremony, which saw filmmakers call on the German and Israeli governments to commit “genocide in Gaza,” sparked a political backlash in Germany.
Syrian-Palestinian director Abdullah Al-Khatib, winner of the “Berlinale Horizons” section for his drama film Siege recordsHe said that the current German government is “partners in the genocide in Gaza at the hands of Israel,” and pointed out that “the long-awaited day is coming, and when people ask you about what happened, tell them: Palestine remembers. We will remember everyone who stood with us, and we will remember everyone who stood against us, against our right to live in dignity, or who chose to remain silent or who chose silence.”
These comments prompted German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider to leave the ceremony in protest. A spokesman for the minister said in a statement that Schneider “deems these statements unacceptable and therefore left the event during the speech.”
Siege records It is an episodic drama that follows the stories of Palestinian residents trapped in the ruins of a destroyed city. The city has never been named but bears a strong resemblance to Gaza.
Lebanese director Marie Rose Osta, her film Someday a child It won the Golden Bear Award for Best Short Film, and also used the stage to make a political statement in which it denounced the Israeli bombings in its homeland and what it described as the “collapse of international law” in the region.
She said: “In reality, children in Gaza, in all of Palestine, and in Lebanon do not have supernatural powers to protect them from Israeli bombs.” “No child should need superpowers to survive veto-wielding genocide and the collapse of international law,” she said. “…If this Golden Bear means anything, let it mean that Lebanese and Palestinian children are non-negotiable.”
Conservative politicians have turned to tabloids and social media to hit back at the directors and the Berlinale for giving them a platform.
On the He said in his post that the concert emphasized “the need to take a clear stance and classify anti-Semitism as a particularly dangerous form of incitement to hatred. Whether in public, at events or online: there should be no platform for Israel haters.”
He speaks to a German tabloid newspaper BildBerlin Mayor Kai Wegener said the awards ceremony had been “misused for political destruction”, depriving many artists “of a unique moment of recognition for their work”. He claimed that those who express pro-Palestinian views at the festival, “and who present themselves here as pro-Palestinian activists, are not concerned with human rights. They are not concerned with dialogue, peace, or accurate criticism. They are only concerned with hatred of Israel.”
Discussions about Israeli actions are particularly sensitive in Germany, which sees a historical responsibility to support Israel because of the legacy of the Nazi Holocaust. Following the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas, which killed more than 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage, the German government said Israel had the right to self-defense. Germany continued to sell weapons to Israel throughout the conflict, although German Chancellor Friedrich Merz briefly halted approvals for new exports, between August and November last year, over concerns that German-made weapons could be used in Gaza.
Merz also criticized Israel’s military action in Gaza, which has led to the deaths of more than 70,000 people. A study published in the Lancet Global Health medical journal estimates the death toll at more than 75,000 people, with women, children and the elderly among the majority of those killed.
Al-Khatib said at the Berlinale ceremony, raising the Palestinian flag at the end of his speech: “Some people told me, ‘Maybe you should be careful before you say what I want to say now, because you are a refugee in Germany, and there are a lot of red lines. But I don’t care. I care about my people, about Palestine.’”
The Berlin Film Festival witnessed similar statements on stage and witnessed a similar political reaction two years ago, when it screened the Israeli-Palestinian documentary No other land It won the Audience Award and the Best Documentary Award. The film, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, narrates the violence of Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. In his acceptance speech, No other landIsraeli co-director Yuval Abraham criticized what he called the “apartheid” system in his homeland, sparking anger and accusations of “anti-Semitism” from (mostly conservative, mostly Christian) politicians in Germany.
This year’s Berlinale was political from start to finish. Jury president Wim Wenders became the target of online outrage after he said, in response to a question at a press conference about Gaza, that filmmakers “should stay out of politics.”
At the awards ceremony on Saturday, Wenders tried to strike a conciliatory tone, saying the disagreements were largely due to an “artificial contradiction” between the “language of cinema,” which he described as “sympathetic,” and the “effective” language of social media. “Activists fight, mainly on the Internet, for humanitarian issues, namely the dignity and protection of human life. These are our issues too, as the Berlinale films clearly show,” Wenders said. He added in his speech to the activists: “Most filmmakers applaud you. We all applaud you. You are doing necessary and courageous work. But should you be in competition with us? Do our languages need to clash?”
Contacted by Hollywood ReporterThe Berlinale said it would respond on Tuesday.
