Award-winning Indian author Arundhati Roy on Friday withdrew from the Berlin Film Festival over jury president Wim Wenders’ remarks that cinema should “stay out of politics” when the German director was asked about his country’s support for Israel’s military actions in the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
When asked about Germany’s backing of Israel during a press conference on Thursday, Wenders said: “We cannot really enter the field of politics”, and described filmmakers as “the counterweight to politics”.
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‘Shocked and disgusted’: Why Arundhati Roy pulled out of Berlin Film Festival
Roy, whose novel ‘The God of Small Things’ won the 1997 Booker Prize, had been announced as a guest at the festival to present a restored print of the 1989 film ‘In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones’, in which she acted and also wrote the script.
The Indian writer said she felt “shocked and disgusted” by replies given by Wenders and other jury members to a question about the Palestinian territory at Thursday’s press event, she told news agency AFP.
She said the “unconscionable” remarks made by Wenders and other jury members made her rethink her participation, “with deep regret”.
Roy also said in the statement that “to hear them say that art should not be political is jaw-dropping”. She called Israel’s actions in Gaza “a genocide of the Palestinian people by the State of Israel”.
“If the greatest filmmakers and artists of our time cannot stand up and say so, they should know that history will judge them,” she said.
Restored prints of two films by late Egyptian directors, “Sad Song of Touha” by Atteyat Al Abnoudy and “The Dislocation of Amber” by Hussein Shariffe, have also been pulled from the festival over its position on Gaza.
“The Berlinale respects these decisions,” a spokeswoman said in a statement sent to AFP.
“We regret that we will not welcome them as their presence would have enriched the festival discourse,” she said.
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Not the first time Berlin festival has run into controversy over Gaza war
The Berlin Film Festival is known for programmes that reflect current issues and progressive themes. However, this year’s edition has seen several celebrities avoid taking clear positions on major political matters.
This is not the first time the festival has faced controversy linked to the Gaza war.
In 2024, the festival’s documentary prize went to “No Other Land”, which documents the displacement of Palestinian communities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
German government officials criticised what they called “one-sided” remarks about Gaza made by the film’s directors and others at that year’s award ceremony.
The Gaza war began after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which killed 1,221 people, AFP reported based on official Israeli figures. Israel’s response has resulted in at least 71,000 deaths in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
With inputs from agencies
