A Palestinian award-winner’s accusation that Germany has supported genocide sparked political after the closing gala, while others criticized the festival’s attempts to remain neutral on Gaza.
This year’s Berlin International Film Festival prize winners, and their acceptance speeches, make clear the difficult tightrope along which the festival has to walk.
Closing a 10-day festival that had been marked by a social media storm surrounding jury president Wim Wenders’ comment that filmmakers should “stay out of politics,” the films that were selected to win the top awards, Ilker Catak’s “Yellow Letters” and Emin Alper’s “Salvation,” demonstrated that the Berlinale remains the most political of Europe’s three big film festivals, next to Cannes and Venice.
Despite an open letter’s accusations of “censorship” of the artists speaking out on Gaza, various award winners also used their acceptance speeches to make political statements on the issue.
Palestinian prize-winner’s comment leads to political backlash
One award winner in particular directly criticized the German government for remaining a staunch ally of Israel.
Syrian-Palestinian director Abdallah Alkhatib, who picked up a prize for Best First Feature Award with his film “Chronicles From the Siege,” noted upon accepting the award that as a refugee in Germany, people had warned him against crossing “red lines” in his speech. He nevertheless asked why the country accepted to be “partners of the genocide in Gaza by Israel. I believe you are intelligent enough to recognize this, but you choose not to care.”
Environment Minister Carsten Schneider — the only member of the German government attending the ceremony — walked out of the awards ceremony during Alkhatib’s speech, later stating that the remarks were “unacceptable.”
Wolfram Weimer, Government Commissioner for Culture, rejected Alkhatib’s claim on Germany’s position: “These false claims are malicious and poison the political debate. They destroy the appreciation of film art at the Berlinale,” he told newspaper Tagespiegel.
Germany remains one of Israel’s staunchest supporters, and its second largest arms supplier. Political leaders say this position is principally based on historical guilt for the Nazi Holocaust — a policy known as the “Staatsraison,” or “reason of state.”
Human rights experts, scholars and a United Nations inquiry say Israel’s assault on Gaza amounts to genocide, which Israel strongly denies, saying that its actions in Gaza are justified as self-defence following the October 7, 2023 terror attacks.
Festival director Tricia Tuttle: ‘We don’t get directives at all’
The German government funds 40% of the film festival. Amid significant cuts in arts and culture funding, the festival is under pressure to maintain the state’s support.
But festival director Tricia Tuttle insists that this does not constrain Berlinale in what it can say or do: “They have strategic oversight, in that I report to them about financial matters,” she told DW, but “what we do, what we say, is entirely up to us. We don’t get missives. We don’t get directives at all.”
In 2024, Berlin’s culture minister attempted to make arts funding available only to those who committed to the controversial IHRA definition of antisemitism. Although the proposed “anti-discrimination clause” for arts funding was ultimately dropped, it has also contributed to the pressure felt by cultural institutions.
One argument in the 2026 open letter against the Berlinale is that the festival has in the past made “clear statements” about the “atrocities” carried out against civilians in Ukraine and Iran.
“We call on the Berlinale to fulfill its moral duty and clearly state its opposition to Israel’s genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Palestinians, and completely end its involvement in shielding Israel from criticism and calls for accountability,” the letter reads.
Tuttles justifies the festival’s attempt to remain neutral through the fact that this particular issue “is really polarizing. Every conversation you have, you need to hold the complexity of the situation.”
Pressure from both sides of the Gaza issue
The Berlinale is also closely observed by Israeli authorities and cultural commentators.
Israeli ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, praised Carsten Schneider’s walkout from the gala: “Respect for Minister Schneider and his moral clarity,” he told the Bild newspaper on Sunday, adding that the Berlinale risked jeopardizing its good reputation if it “served as a platform for Israel-haters.”
Also reacting to the awards ceremony, a blogger from the Times of Israel claims that “Germany’s cultural elite is playing with fire,” while a commenter from the Jüdische Allgemeine Zeitung described Alkhatib’s speech as “bigotry.”
On the other side of the debate, the campaign pushing the Berlinale to take an official position on Gaza also put filmmakers and actors under pressure, as they were questioned on their political stances at news conferences throughout the week.
This not only led to Wenders’ controversial “stay out of politics” soundbite; many others were asked questions that were unrelated to their films.
“These viral moments can be really damaging for the films, if it means that all we’re writing about is the controversy, not the films,” said Tuttle, pointing out that the loaded questions are not just harmful for the festival, but for the cultural personalities who have accepted to take part in the event: “People are forced to speak, and if they don’t speak, then that is an affront to people. If they do speak and don’t say what the questioner wants to hear, that is an affront. And if they say the wrong thing, then that’s a massive problem.”
The Wim Wenders clip that went viral also led Indian author Arundhati Roy to boycott the festival. She felt that saying filmmakers should stay out of politics “is a way of shutting down a conversation about a crime against humanity even as it unfolds before us in real time — when artists, writers and film-makers should be doing everything in their power to stop it.”
“Artists are free to exercise their right of free speech in whatever way they choose,” Tuttle said in reaction to the social media storm. They “should not be expected to comment on all broader debates about a festival’s previous or current practices over which they have no control.”
Insight from Ilker Catak’s ‘Yellow Letters’
Ilker Catak, whose “Yellow Letters” won the Golden Bear for best film, provided one of the most powerful speeches of the awards ceremony. He noted that the focus of the conversation should not be social media quotes pitting filmmakers against each other: “We are not enemies. We are allies,” he said. The real threat, he added, “is the autocrats, the right-wing parties, the nihilists of our time. Let us not fight each other. Let’s fight them.”
“Yellow Letters” is about two artists who lose their position in a state theater due to their political opinions. The Turkish-language film had the German cities of Berlin and Hamburg stand in for Ankara and Istanbul. The political drama also remains purposely vague about the names of the politicians who are repressing their artistic freedom, and equally avoids detailing whatever the artists have done to face a work ban.
Source : https://www.dw.com/en/berlinale-faces-difficult-balancing-act-in-polarized-gaza-debate/a-76091332
