On Tuesday afternoon, over 81 current and former Berlinale participants, including names like Tilda Swinton and Javier Bardem, shared an open letter calling on the German festival to condemn Israel.
You can read the full letter, first published by Variety, down below.
The letter states that the signatories are “dismayed at the Berlinale’s involvement in censoring artists who oppose Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the German state’s key role in enabling it.”
“We stand with our colleagues in rejecting this institutional repression and anti-Palestinian racism,” the letter reads.
The letter continues to reference Wim Wenders’ now-controversial comments from this year’s Berlinale opening press conference, where he said, “movies can change the world,” but “not in a political way.” Wenders added that filmmakers “have to stay out of politics because if we make movies that are dedicatedly political, we enter the field of politics.”
The open letter states: “We fervently disagree with the statement made by Berlinale 2026 jury president Wim Wenders that filmmaking is ‘the opposite of politics’. You cannot separate one from the other.”
The note ends with a quote from the Palestine Film Institute that states the Berlinale has made “clear statements” in the past about “atrocities” in Iran and Ukraine but remains silent on Palestine.
Other signatories of the note include Mike Leigh, Lukas Dhont, Nan Goldin, Miguel Gomes, Adam McKay, and James Benning.
A few hours before this open letter went live, Ethan Hawke became the latest actor to be asked at the festival about the role artists can play in speaking out against fascism. The actor, speaking at the presser for The Weight, started by cautioning in jocular terms: “The last place you probably want to look for advice in your spiritual counsel is a bunch of jet-lagged drunk artists talking about their film.” The response drew laughter and some applause, but also a couple of whistles. The actor added: “Anything that fights fascism, I’m all for it.”
Read the letter and see the list of signatories in full below.
Open Letter:
We 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. We are dismayed at the Berlinale’s involvement in censoring artists who oppose Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the German state’s key role in enabling it. As the Palestine Film Institute has stated, the festival has been “policing filmmakers alongside a continued commitment to collaborate with Federal Police on their investigations”.
Last year, filmmakers who spoke out for Palestinian life and liberty from the Berlinale stage reported being aggressively reprimanded by senior festival programmers. One filmmaker was reported to have been investigated by police, and Berlinale leadership falsely implied that the filmmaker’s moving speech – rooted in international law and solidarity – was “discriminatory”. As another filmmaker told Film Workers for Palestine about last year’s festival: “there was a feeling of paranoia in the air, of not being protected and of being persecuted, which I had never felt before at a film festival”. We stand with our colleagues in rejecting this institutional repression and anti-Palestinian racism.
We fervently disagree with the statement made by Berlinale 2026 jury president Wim Wenders that filmmaking is “the opposite of politics”. 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’s misuse of draconian legislation “to restrict advocacy for Palestinian rights, chilling public participation and shrinking discourse in academia and the arts”. This is also what Ai Weiwei recently described as Germany “doing what they did in the 1930s” (agreeing with his interviewer who suggested to him that “it’s the same fascist impulse, just a different target”). All of this at a time when we are learning horrifying new details about the 2,842 Palestinians “evaporated” by Israeli forces using internationally prohibited, U.S.-made thermal and thermobaric weapons. Despite abundant evidence of Israel’s genocidal intent, systematic atrocity crimes and ethnic cleansing, Germany continues to supply Israel with weapons used to exterminate Palestinians in Gaza.
The tide is changing across the international film world. Many international film festivals have endorsed the cultural boycott of apartheid Israel, including the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, the world’s biggest, as well as BlackStar Film Festival in the U.S., and Film Fest Gent, Belgium’s largest. More 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.
Yet Berlinale has so far not even met the demands of its community to issue a statement that affirms the Palestinian right to life, dignity, and freedom; condemns the ongoing Israeli genocide of Palestinians; and commits to uphold the right of artists to speak without constraint in support of Palestinian human rights. This is the least it can – and should – do.
As the Palestine Film Institute has said, “we are appalled by Berlinale’s institutional silence on the genocide of Palestinians, and its unwillingness to defend the freedoms of speech and expression of filmmakers”. Just as the festival has made clear statements in the past about atrocities carried out against people in Iran and Ukraine, we call on the Berlinale to fulfil its moral duty and clearly state its opposition to Israel’s genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Palestinians, and completely end its involvement in shielding Israel from criticism and calls for accountability.
Signed by
Adam McKay
Adèle Haenel
Alan O’Gorman
Alexandra Juhasz
Alexandre Koberidze
Alia Shawkat
Alison Oliver
Alkis Papastathopoulos
Ana Naomi de Sousa
Angeliki Papoulia
Antigoni Rota
Ariane Labed
Artemis Anastasiadou
Ashley McKenzie
Avi Mograbi
Bahija Essoussi
Ben Russell
Bingham Bryant
Blake Williams
Blanche Gardin
Brett Story
Brian Cox
Camilo Restrepo
Carice Van Houten
Charlie Shackleton
Cherien Dabis
Christopher Young
Dali Benssalah
David Osit
Deragh Campbell
Dustin Defa
Eleni Alexandrakis
Elhum Shakerifar
Emilie Deleuze
Eyal Sivan
Fernando Meirelles
Fil Ieropoulos
Geoff Arbourne
Hany Abu Assad
Hind Meddeb
James Benning
Javier Bardem
John Greyson
Jon Jost
Khalid Abdalla
Leah Borromeo
Lukas Dhont
Mahdi Fleifel
Mai Masri
Malika Zouhali-Worrall
Manuel Embalse
Marina Gioti
Marion Schmidt
Merawi Gerima
Miguel Gomes
Mike Leigh
Miranda Pennell
Namir Abdel Messeeh
Nan Goldin
Narimane Mari
Nina Menkes
Pascale Ramonda
Patricia Mazuy
Paul Laverty
Pedro Pimenta
Peter Mullan
Phaedra Vokali
Robert Greene
Saeed Taji Farouky
Saleh Bakri
Samaher Alqadi
Sarah Friedland
Sepideh Farsi
Shirin Neshat
Smaro Papaevangelou
Sofia Georgovassili
Tatiana Maslany
Thodoris Dimitropoulos
Tilda Swinton
Tobias Menzies
Tyler Taormina
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