Berlin Film Festival rejects accusation of censorship on Gaza

The director of the Berlin Film Festival on Wednesday rejected accusations from more than 80 film industry figures that the festival had helped censor artists who oppose Israel’s actions in Gaza.

In an open letter published on Tuesday, Oscar-winning actors Javier Bardem and Tilda Swinton were among dozens who criticised the Berlinale’s “silence” on the issue and said they were “dismayed” at its “involvement in censoring artists who oppose Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza”.

In an interview with Screen Daily, the Berlinale’s director, Tricia Tuttle, said the festival backs “free speech within the bounds of German law”.

She said she recognised that the letter came from “the depth of anger and frustration about the suffering of people in Gaza”.

However, she rejected accusations of censorship, saying that the letter contained “misinformation” and “inaccurate claims about the Berlinale” made without evidence or anonymously.

The row over Gaza has dogged this year’s edition of the festival since jury president Wim Wenders answered a question on the conflict by saying: “We cannot really enter the field of politics.”

The comments prompted award-winning novelist Arundhati Roy, who had been due to present a restored version of a film she wrote, to withdraw from the festival.

Tuttle said the festival represents “lots of people who have different views, including lots of people who live in Germany who want a more complex understanding of Israel’s positionality than maybe the rest of the world has right now”.

German politicians have been largely supportive of Israel as Germany seeks to atone for the legacy of the Holocaust.

However, German public opinion has been more critical of Israeli actions in Gaza.

Commenting on the row to the Welt TV channel, German Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer defended Wenders and Tuttle from criticism, saying they were running the festival “in a very balanced way, very sensitively”.

“Artists should not be told what to do when it comes to politics. The Berlinale is not an NGO with a camera and directors,” Weimer said.

Gaza has frequently been a topic of controversy at the Berlinale in recent years.

In 2024, the festival’s documentary award went to “No Other Land”, which follows the dispossession of Palestinian communities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

German government officials criticised “one-sided” remarks about Gaza by the directors of that film and others at that year’s awards ceremony.