honoured last year with the prestigious Honorary Golden Bear<\/a>. <\/p>\nThey stated they \u201cfervently disagree\u201d with Wenders\u2019 comments, argued that filmmaking and politics cannot be separated\u201d, called out the Berlinale’s stance on Gaza, but “the German state’s key role in enabling” Israel’s actions. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe write as film workers, all of us past and current Berlinale participants, who expect the institutions in our industry to refuse complicity in the terrible violence that continues to be waged against Palestinians,\u201d read the statement. \u201cWe are dismayed at the Berlinale\u2019s involvement in censoring artists who oppose Israel\u2019s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the German state\u2019s key role in enabling it. As the Palestine Film Institute has stated, the festival has been \u201cpolicing filmmakers alongside a continued commitment to collaborate with Federal Police on their investigations\u201d.\u201d <\/p>\n
The letter continues: \u201cWe fervently disagree with the statement made by Berlinale 2026 jury president Wim Wenders that filmmaking is \u201cthe opposite of politics\u201d. You cannot separate one from the other. We are deeply concerned that the German state-funded Berlinale is helping put into practice what Irene Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion recently condemned as Germany\u2019s misuse of draconian legislation \u201cto restrict advocacy for Palestinian rights, chilling public participation and shrinking discourse in academia and the arts\u201d. This is also what Ai Weiwei recently described as Germany \u201cdoing what they did in the 1930s\u201d (agreeing with his interviewer who suggested to him that \u201cit\u2019s the same fascist impulse, just a different target \u201d).\u201d <\/p>\n
The letter notes that the Berlinale has made \u201cclear statements\u201d in the past about \u201catrocities\u201d carried out against people in Iran and Ukraine, and highlighted how many international film festivals like the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam and Belgium\u2019s largest festival Film Fest Gent have \u201cendorsed the cultural boycott of apartheid Israel.\u201d <\/p>\n
The signatories added: \u201cMore than 5,000 film workers, including leading Hollywood and international figures, have also announced their refusal to work with complicit Israeli film companies and institutions\u201d – read more about that here. <\/p>\n
The letter concludes: \u201cWe call on the Berlinale to fulfil its moral duty and clearly state its opposition to Israel\u2019s genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Palestinians, and completely end its involvement in shielding Israel from criticism and calls for accountability.\u201d <\/p>\n
To speak or not to speak out?<\/p>\n
When does it become the responsibility of an artist attending a festival to speak out \u2013 especially when it comes to the rise of fascism, which goes against artistic freedom? <\/p>\n
Always, especially if you adhere to George Orwell\u2019s stance when he said: \u201cThe opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.\u201d <\/p>\n
Artists attending an event where historically politics have been centre stage both on and off screen, have a duty to use their platforms to speak out \u2013 especially in troubled, some would say Orwellian, times. <\/p>\n
While it can be naive to dismiss Wenders’ comment about movies being able to change a politician’s idea, and it is unreasonable to expect every artist to come up with an insightful soundbite on any matter, no artist should be afraid to speak up. If they are, maybe international film festivals are not the place to be right now. Especially not at the Berlinale, where politics has never been a no-go area.<\/p>\n
Oscar nominated Ethan Hawke toed the line rather well (and with humour) this year at the Berlinale. <\/p>\n
During the press conference for his new historical drama The Weight, the actor was asked about the responsibility of big names to speak out. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe last place you probably want to look for advice in your spiritual counsel is a bunch of jet-lagged, drunk artists talking about their films,\u201d he said, before adding: \u201cI believe in the power of cinema to affect\u2026 You know how every night we all dream and those dreams kind of heal us and get us ready for the next day? I feel like, collectively, the whole festival – all of you, all of us here – are responsible for creating an international dream life. What is it? What are our dreams? What are we talking about? What are we thinking about?\u201d <\/p>\n
Hawke concluded his answer with a more direct answer to the question: \u201cAnything that fights fascism, I\u2019m all for it.\u201d <\/p>\n
Later, Hawke was pressed on the open letter signed by fellow artists. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe last time I spoke publicly about any of this, I was really shocked about how much animosity it was met with,\u201d Hawke replied candidly. \u201cYou know, people saying, \u2018Actors shouldn\u2019t talk about politics\u2019 and things like that. And I really feel like the answer is the absolute inverse, that everybody should be. We\u2019re all citizens of the world and all of us matter, all of us have a voice and everybody\u2019s welcome to disagree. That\u2019s part of the benefit of living in a free society.\u201d <\/p>\n
Hawke said that celebrities tend to \u201cget microphones thrown in front of our faces, but it\u2019s not because we\u2019re telling people what to do. We\u2019re just sharing art.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not some of the greatest minds in the world that try to make the planet live in peace, \u201d he added, ending his response by addressing the journalist who asked the question. \u201cI feel like there\u2019s a slight agenda to your question that\u2019s different from my agenda. But I respect you and I respect the question.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Berlin Film Festival ends on Sunday 22 February 2026. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cUnconscionable\u201d. \u201cAppalling\u201d. \u201cWeird\u201d. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT It\u2019s not been smooth sailing for this year\u2019s Berlin Film Festival, with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[112,761,5435,12688,190,4175,3619,12687],"class_list":{"0":"post-17729","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-berlin","8":"tag-berlin","9":"tag-berlinale","10":"tag-cinema","11":"tag-controversy","12":"tag-germany","13":"tag-palestine","14":"tag-protests","15":"tag-the-gaza-strip"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17729","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=17729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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