A meeting of the supervisory board was requested at the initiative of the government, after a Syrian-Palestinian director accused Germany of being ” accomplice “ operations carried out by Israel.
The German government announced that it was summoning executives from the Berlinale‘s parent company on Thursday, after a closing ceremony marked by a speech by a Syrian-Palestinian director accusing Germany of being ” accomplice “ of “genocide” towards the Palestinians, through its support for Israel. According to the newspaper Bildwhich cites sources close to the company in question, KBB, festival director Tricia Tuttle is to be dismissed from her position during this meeting.
Questioned by AFP, the Ministry of Culture confirmed on Wednesday that the “extraordinary meeting of the supervisory board of the KBB” would stand “at the initiative of Minister Wolfram Weimer” who presides over it. Questioned during a regular government press conference, a government spokesperson spoke of a meeting on « l’orientation future » of the festival. The ministry refused to “comment further on other speculations”. Questioned by AFP about a possible dismissal, the KBB mentioned a “false information” without developing. Tricia Tuttle, 56, experienced a second edition at the head of the tormented Berlinale, crossed by a debate on the political positioning or not of filmmakers, with the conflict in the Middle East as a backdrop.
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The Berlinale returns to the controversy surrounding the refusal of certain filmmakers to express their political positions
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Dissociating cinema from politics?
More than 80 cinema professionals criticized the «silence» from the Berlinale on the war in Gaza, accusing the festival of censoring artists “who reject genocide” committed according to them by Israel in Gaza. Tricia Tuttle has denied his accusations. Awarded Saturday February 21 in the evening, for his film Chronicles from the SiegeSyrian-Palestinian director Abdullah Al-Khatib accused the German government of being “accomplice of the genocide committed in Gaza by Israel”.
The only government representative present at the awards ceremony, the Social Democratic Minister of the Environment Carsten Schneider then left the room. In addition to this speech, Minister Weimer would criticize Tricia Tuttle for posing in a photo with the film crew, surrounded by several men dressed in keffiyehs and brandishing a Palestinian flag. Contacted by AFP to find out the reason for Wolfram Weimer’s absence at the closing ceremony, the Ministry of Culture did not respond.
