The Berlinale in the eye of the hurricane
The German film festival has a problem. And it’s not programming. More than 80 big names in cinema—actors, directors, people who have been there—have signed an open letter that is basically a slap in the face.
They accuse the Berlinale of maintaining a complicit silence regarding what is happening in Gaza. And to censor, subtly or not so subtly, artists who have raised their voices in defense of the Palestinian people.
Among the signatories are figures such as Javier Bardem, Tilda Swinton, Tatiana Maslany and filmmakers such as Mike Leigh and Adam McKay. They are not exactly rookies looking for notoriety.
“We demand that cultural institutions not be complicit in violence,” says the document.
The spark that lit this fuse was some statements from this year’s jury president, the legendary Wim Wenders. The German director said that “cinema is the opposite of politics” and that the festival should stay out of the debate about Gaza.
The signing artists responded forcefully:
“You cannot separate cinema from politics.”
And they pulled the newspaper archive: they remembered that the Berlinale has taken clear public positions in past conflicts, such as those in Ukraine or Iran. The implicit question is obvious: why not here?
What began as an aesthetic jury debate has become a perfect storm about the role of art in times of conflict. And the Berlinale, for now, still does not give an official response. The silence, in this case, sounds increasingly louder.




