{"id":477398,"date":"2026-02-15T23:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T23:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/477398\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T23:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T23:30:07","slug":"berlin-film-festival-defends-wim-wenders-after-arundhati-roy-attacked-jaw-dropping-comments-berlin-film-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/477398\/","title":{"rendered":"Berlin film festival defends Wim Wenders after Arundhati Roy attacked \u2018jaw-dropping\u2019 comments | Berlin film festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Berlin film festival<\/a> has issued a lengthy statement \u201cin defence of our film-makers, and especially our jury and jury president\u201d, after what it described as a \u201cmedia storm that has swept over the Berlinale\u201d in its first few days.<\/p>\n

The defence follows criticism levelled at the jury, in particular president, Wim Wenders<\/a>, for comments made when fielding questions about the war in Gaza. Asked during the opening press conference if films can effect political change, the German film-maker said that \u201cmovies can change the world\u201d but \u201cnot in a political way\u201d, adding that film-makers \u201chave to stay out of politics\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Polish producer Ewa Puszczy\u0144ska, when asked about the support the German government has shown for Israel, called the questioning \u201ccomplicated\u201d and \u201ca bit unfair\u201d. \u201cWe cannot be responsible for what their decision would be to support Israel or the decision to support Palestine,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The comments led to Indian author Arundhati Roy withdrawing from the Berlinale<\/a> on Friday. In a stinging rebuke, Roy called the comments \u201cunconscionable\u201d and said she feared they had reached millions of people across the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo hear them say that art should not be political is jaw-dropping,\u201d Roy said. \u201cIt is a way of shutting down a conversation about a crime against humanity even as it unfolds before us in real time \u2013 when artists, writers and film-makers should be doing everything in their power to stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Late on Saturday, festival head Tricia Tuttle responded<\/a> to the number of times actors and film-makers have been asked at press conferences to comment on political and societal issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cArtists are free to exercise their right of free speech in whatever way they choose,\u201d Tuttle said. \u201cArtists should not be expected to comment on all broader debates about a festival\u2019s previous or current practices over which they have no control. Nor should they be expected to speak on every political issue raised to them unless they want to.\u201d<\/p>\n

A festival spokesperson added: \u201cAs we enter the first 48 hours of this year\u2019s festival, a media storm has swept over the Berlinale. We feel it is important to speak out \u2013 in defence of our film-makers, and especially our jury and jury president.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of what is currently circulating takes remarks from press conferences detached not only out of context of the full conversations but also from the lifetime of work and values these artists represent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Politically oriented questions at the Berlinale have dominated headlines and social media. Charli xcx, speaking at a presser for Aidan Zamiri\u2019s The Moment, which she produced and stars in, applauded the festival for \u201cnot shying away from political films\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other high-profile guests questioned on political topics, often with limited connection to the films they were promoting, include US actor Neil Patrick Harris \u2013 who was asked whether cinema could fight fascism, UK star Rupert Grint \u2013 who was also asked about fascism<\/a>, and Malaysian actor Michelle Yeoh \u2013 who was asked for her thoughts on the current state of the US<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In her communication, titled On Speaking, Cinema and Politics, Tuttle said there were \u201cmany different kinds of art, and many different ways of being political\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said film-makers were being criticised \u201cif they can not compress complex thoughts into a brief soundbite when a microphone is placed in front of them when they thought they were speaking about something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cIn a media environment dominated by crisis, there is less oxygen left for serious conversation about film or culture at all, unless it can be folded as well into a news agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Berlin film festival has issued a lengthy statement \u201cin defence of our film-makers, and especially our jury…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75],"class_list":["post-477398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}