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Director Yuval Abraham (left) and Basel Adora, who won the Best Documentary Award for their film “No Other Land,” appeared on stage at the closing ceremony at the Berlinale Palace.
Monika Skolimovska/Photography partnership via Getty Images
The heated debate surrounding this year’s Berlin Film Festival awards ceremony shows no signs of slowing down.
German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann on Tuesday criticized comments he called “anti-Semitic” left unchallenged at an awards ceremony in Berlin on Saturday night. , criticized the Berlinale. Buschmann told the German media group Funke newspaper that the festival had “suffered serious damage” as a result, adding that some statements and slogans could lead to criminal charges. suggested.
The 74th Berlinale’s awards ceremony became sharply political as one after another of the winners used the festival’s platform to condemn the Israeli government’s actions in the Gaza war.
Ben Russell, co-director Ben Russell direct actionThe director, who won the Best Film award for his Berlin Encounters sidebar, used the word “genocide” to describe Israel’s military actions in the region. Palestinian film director Basel Adra There is no other land “It is very difficult for me to celebrate the tens of thousands of my people in Gaza who are being slaughtered by Israel right now,” said the winner of the Best Documentary Award and the Panorama Audience Award.his israeli There is no other land Co-director Yuval Abraham talked about “apartheid” in his home country.
French artist Verena Paravel, a member of the Berlinale Documentary Jury, showed her political allegiance when she handed over the Berlinale Documentary Award by sewing a “cease fire now” sign onto the back of her dress. There is no other land.
Verena Paravel held up a “ceasefire now” sign as she handed over the Berlinale Documentary Award to Basel Adora and Yuval Abraham of “No Other Land”.
Andreas Lenz/Getty Images
“I support Palestine,” said Mati Diop, a French-Senegalese director who won the Golden Bear in Berlin. Dahomey.
That night, in a room in the Berlinale Palace, the statement was greeted with loud applause and cheers. But widespread German media and German politicians have been almost unanimous in their condemnation.
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner called the gala “unbearable” and said: “There is no anti-Semitism in Berlin. That also applies to the art scene.” He said the Berlinale’s management needed to ensure that “an incident like this” never happened again.
German Education and Science Minister Bettina Stark-Watsinger wrote on X that the pro-Palestinian statement represented a “reversal of perpetrator and victim in public life.”
Bavaria’s Premier Florian Hermann showed footage of her praising Adora and Abraham’s acceptance speeches and called on German Culture Minister Claudia Roth to resign. In a statement, the Culture Ministry sought to clarify Roth’s response, saying it was intended only when director Abraham (who is Jewish-Israeli) called for a political solution and peaceful coexistence in the region.
Ross said an investigation into the incident would be held on Saturday night to determine whether the Berlinale “lives up to its claims of being a place for diversity, different perspectives and dialogue.” Ross said the Berlinale must remain a place free of “hate, agitation, anti-Semitism, racism, anti-Muslim sentiment and all forms of misanthropy.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz echoed the sentiment, calling statements critical of Israel a “unilateral position” and “unacceptable,” according to a government spokesperson. Scholz said any discussion of the Gaza war should keep in mind the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas that triggered the current conflict.
Ben Russell (left) and Selvain Decret (right), winners of the Encounters Award for Best Picture for their film Direct, are at the Berlinale Palast with Jay Jordan (second from left) and Guillaume Caillot. Action wearing a Palestinian scarf on stage at the closing ceremony”
Monika Skolimovska/Photography partnership via Getty Images
Monika Grütters, Roth’s predecessor as Germany’s culture minister, told the German magazine. stern Saturday night’s events prompted those in charge to say, “Head of Culture; [festival] Supervision, organization and especially cultural policy have failed. ”
But she warned against discussions about canceling funding for festivals and other “controversial” arts projects, saying such discussions “ultimately endanger artistic freedom.” Stated. This is like throwing out the baby with the bathwater…Democracy is built on contradictions. ” Still, Grütters called for “guardrails against anti-Israel incitement and anti-Semitism,” without specifying any specifics. The German Ministry of Culture and the Berlin Senate are the main financial backers of the Berlinale.
But the backlash is already having an impact. There is no other land Co-director Yuval Abraham posted on social media He said he had received death threats after “German politicians and Israeli media” branded his remarks at the gala “anti-Semitic.” Noting that many of his family members were killed in the Holocaust, Abraham said: “German politicians in 2024 will use this term as a weapon against me in a way that puts my family at risk. I am particularly outraged that he had the audacity to do so.” Abraham said he was forced to cancel his flight back to Israel because he feared for his safety.
The Berlinale said the statements made on the festival stage on Saturday night were “sometimes one-sided and hyperactive”, “an expression of an individual’s personal opinion” and “do not in any way reflect the spirit of the festival”. ”, he distanced himself from the comments of the festival’s winners. position. ” In a statement before the ceremony, Berlinale Secretary-General Mariette Rissenbeek condemned the October 7 Hamas attack and called for the return of all hostages. She also called on Israel to But the Berlinale also pointed out that what was said on stage at Saturday’s gala was protected by Germany’s free speech laws.
Melon Mendel, director of the Anne Frank Educational Institute, said in a German radio interview that he heard “anti-Israel and one-sided statements” at the Berlinale celebrations, but not “anti-Semitic rhetoric.” Stated. Mendel condemned the politicians who attacked the festival, saying they were “politicizing the issue with a kind of symbolic politics” without suggesting anything that would actually help in the fight against anti-Semitism. “It’s happening,” he accused.
The Berlinale’s Panorama sidebar Instagram channel was hacked on Saturday, and statements such as “Liberate Palestine – from the river to the sea” and “Genocide is genocide” were briefly posted on the festival’s official channels. The festival announced that it would file criminal charges against “unidentified people” in response to the attack. The legal formulation specifies a criminal charge to be filed without a specific suspect, only the crime (in this case hacking) known.
Justice Minister Bushman suggested to the media that the “From the River to the Sea” statement could be judged as a call for violence against Israel and could be classified as hate speech. That interpretation has yet to be heard in German courts.
The 2024 Berlin Film Festival faces organizers’ efforts to limit debate in order to balance the festival’s official policy of “democracy and openness” with its clear opposition to “discrimination and all forms of discrimination.” Despite this, it is overshadowed by the intense political debate surrounding the Gaza war. Official German state-sponsored hatred, including military support for Israel in the Gaza Strip.” Conflict. In an open letter ahead of the festival, several Berlinale officials criticized management for a lack of “organized leadership” on the issue, calling for an “immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages” in Gaza. ” and demanded that the festival take a stronger stance. .
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