{"id":160568,"date":"2026-09-06T13:46:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T13:46:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/160568\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T13:46:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T13:46:28","slug":"wim-wenders-clarifies-stance-on-filmmakers-and-politics-after-berlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/160568\/","title":{"rendered":"Wim Wenders Clarifies Stance on Filmmakers and Politics After Berlin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWim Wenders<\/a> has clarified his much-discussed statement about filmmakers\u2019 role in politics that kicked off a firestorm at Berlin Film Festival<\/a> earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\n\tWenders was at the center of a heated debate at the Berlinale in February after the celebrated German filmmaker, who served as jury president, said during the opening press conference that filmmakers \u201cshould stay out of politics<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe have to stay out of politics because if we make movies that are dedicatedly political, we enter the field of politics,\u201d Wenders said at the time. \u201cBut we are the counterweight of politics, we are the opposite of politics. We have to do the work of people, not the work of politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe statement then dominated the discourse at the festival, with nearly every filmmaker and actor facing a question about politics \u2014 including the ongoing conflict in Gaza and ICE raids in the U.S. \u2014 during their respective press conferences. Author Arundhati Roy even pulled out of the festival in protest, and festival director Tricia Tuttle had to put out a statement in response to the frenzy.<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked to reflect on his statement Sunday during a press conference at Venice Film Festival<\/a>, where he is presenting his latest documentary \u201cFrom Inside Out \u2014 The Architecture of Peter Zumthor,\u201d Wenders said that he \u201ccould repeat the same thing,\u201d though admitted he \u201ccould be more explicit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat I said then was, as filmmakers, we are the opposite of politicians. We have empathy. Politics work without empathy; that\u2019s all I said,\u201d Wenders, who sported an \u201cImagine Peace\u201d shirt, began. \u201cWe have a very different thing. I\u2019m not working with a mindset of politicians, we are working with a mindset of empathetic people. And we are into changing things, politics are into confirming what is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe continued, \u201cThat\u2019s what I said and was quoted as \u2018We have to stay out of politics,\u2019 and that is not what I said, because it\u2019s not what I said now and I said the same thing then. The frame of filmmakers is a different mindset than the mindset of politicians, and we should not work with that mindset. We work with a different set of rules. I said it again, and I hope you\u2019re not misquoting me and say we have to stay out of politics, because we do the opposite. We are the antidote.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAt Venice\u2019s opening press conference earlier in the festival, jury president Maggie Gyllenhaal weighed in<\/a> on the topic, saying that movies are \u201cfundamentally, undeniably political.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLook, we could say, how are we possibly here talking about movies right now when the world is in a state of emergency?\u201d she said. \u201cTo me, the answer has something to do with empathy. I think that film allows an opening into an opportunity to find empathy inside of ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wim Wenders has clarified his much-discussed statement about filmmakers\u2019 role in politics that kicked off a firestorm at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[99],"tags":[112,3146,190,14709,4654],"class_list":["post-160568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-berlin","tag-berlin","tag-berlin-film-festival","tag-germany","tag-venice-film-festival","tag-wim-wenders"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/117224406132464683","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}