Prominent directors and actors have rallied in support of the American head of the Berlin film festival in response to reports she could be sacked over comments by award-winners criticising the war in Gaza and the German government’s support for Israel.
Germany’s federal government commissioner for culture and media, Wolfram Weimer, convened a crisis meeting on Thursday on the “future direction of the Berlinale”, which is among Europe’s top three cinema showcases with Cannes and Venice.
Weimer’s office said after the talks that “discussions about the direction of the Berlinale will continue in the coming days” between the festival chief, Tricia Tuttle, and the event’s supervisory board.
The newspaper Bild had reported that Thursday’s meeting could result in the firing of Tuttle, the US director of the festival since 2024, after controversy over pro-Palestinian speeches at Saturday’s closing gala, one of which criticised Germany as “partners in the genocide”.
Bild cited sources close to Weimer as saying that the acceptance speech by the Syrian-Palestinian director Abdallah al-Khatib, who won the best first feature award for his drama Chronicles From the Siege, and a picture taken a week earlier that showed Tuttle with al-Khatib’s film team had caused particular offence.
The photograph showed several members of al-Khatib’s team wearing keffiyeh scarves and one holding a Palestinian flag. The Berlinale director commonly takes pictures with the film crews during the festival.
The report prompted an outpouring of solidarity with Tuttle, who previously helmed the BFI London film festival, and stark warnings about free speech and artistic liberty in German society in the face of “intimidation”.
Nearly 700 film-makers signed a petition backing Tuttle. They included the Oscar winners Tilda Swinton and Todd Haynes, both previous Berlinale jury presidents, the directors Sean Baker and Kleber Mendonça Filho, and the Israeli film-makers Oren Moverman and Ari Folman, as well as Germany’s Ilker Çatak, whose drama about creeping authoritarianism won this year’s Golden Bear top prize.
“If an extraordinary meeting is convened to decide the future of the festival’s leadership, more is at stake than a single appointment,” said the petition, published in the trade magazine Variety. “What is at issue is the relationship between artistic freedom and institutional independence.”
It said the Berlinale, now in its 76th year, “has always been political – not party-political, but socially engaged”. It continued: “Especially in times of global crisis, we need spaces capable of sustaining disagreement. The independence of cultural institutions safeguards not only artistic freedom, but the vitality of democratic discourse itself.
“If every controversy leads to institutional repercussions, discourse gives way to control. We stand for a culture of exchange, not intimidation.”
The Berlin chapter of the writers’ association PEN International also expressed dismay at the prospect that Tuttle could be ousted or pressed to resign, in a statement before Thursday’s crisis talks.
It said al-Khatib’s statements were “protected by freedom of expression – just as wearing the keffiyeh and displaying the Palestinian flag are, of course”, and that Tuttle should bear no blame for the statements of festival participants.
“We are certain that the Berlinale, as an internationally relevant festival, would suffer immense damage” if Tuttle were to go now, PEN Berlin said in a statement. “Such wanton destruction of the German cultural scene, such self-inflicted provincialisation, must not be allowed to happen.”
Several Israeli cinema institutions, including the Jerusalem and Haifa film festivals, also voiced their support for Tuttle, praising her “commitment to diversity of voices, non-censorship and creating a space of open debate to all voices”.
Meanwhile, more than 500 Berlinale staff members signed an open letter applauding her “clarity, integrity, and artistic vision”.
From the start of her tenure, Tuttle has faced friction over the war in Gaza, with a diverse scene of international artists pitted against a vocal pro-Israel consensus among the German political authorities that steer the Berlinale’s finances.
She admitted during the ceremony that this year’s edition had been rocky and “emotional”. On opening day, the jury, led by the veteran German director Wim Wenders, encountered pointed questions at a news conference about their views on Gaza.
Wenders rejected the notion that film-makers and cultural institutions must actively take political stances, spurring a firestorm of protest online and in the artistic community.
The Indian author Arundhati Roy cancelled an appearance and more than 80 active or former Berlinale participants signed an open letter condemning Wenders’ remarks. “We are dismayed at the Berlinale’s involvement in censoring artists who oppose Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the German state’s key role in enabling it,” the letter read.
Tuttle forcefully denied these charges.
Wenders and Tuttle both attempted to clarify their position at the awards ceremony, with Wenders calling out an “artificial discrepancy” between art and activism, stoked by social media.
“Activists are fighting mainly on the internet for humanitarian causes, namely the dignity and protection of human life,” Wenders said. “These are our causes as well, as the Berlinale films clearly show.”
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