A group of hard-left, anti-Israel celebrities have signed a letter attacking the Berlin International Film Festival for not allowing them to use the festival to accuse Israel of “genocide.”
The letter accuses the festival of “censoring artists who oppose Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the German state’s key role in enabling it,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The attack on the festival goes on to demand that the organizers issue a clear statement about “Israel’s genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Palestinians.” The celebrities cite the statements the festival made condemning the “atrocities carried out against people in Iran and Ukraine.”
Berlinale jury president Wim Wenders annoyed the antisemitic celebrities during a press conference last week when he said that artists “should stay out of politics,” and insisted that filmmaking is “the opposite of politics.”
In their letter, the celebrities slammed Wenders for his claim that filmmaking is the opposite of politics and they insisted, “You cannot separate one from the other.”
Left-wingers have similarly attacked actress Michelle Yeoh, who received a lifetime achievement Golden Bear honor this year, and actor Neil Patrick Harris both for trying to avoid getting too deeply into politics during interviews at the festival this year.
Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle has pushed back on the celebrity letter and blasted them for saying free speech is being quashed by festival organizers.
“Free speech is happening at the Berlinale,” Tuttle said, “but increasingly, filmmakers are expected to answer any question put to them. They are criticized if they do not answer. They are criticized if they answer and we do not like what they say. They are criticized if they cannot compress complex thoughts into a brief sound bite when a microphone is placed in front of them when they thought they were speaking about something else.”
Tuttle added that “artists should not be expected to comment on all broader debates about a festival’s previous or current practices over which they have no control.”
The celebrity letter is signed by artists including Tilda Swinton, Javier Bardem, Brian Cox, Tatiana Maslany Adam McKay, Angeliki Papoulia, Saleh Bakri, Peter Mullan, and Tobias Menzies, and former directors such as Mike Leigh, Nan Goldin, Miguel Gomes, and Avi Mograbi. Dozens more also signed onto the letter.
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