More than 80 film industry figures including Oscar-winning actors Javier Bardem and Tilda Swinton issued a statement on Tuesday slamming the Berlin Film Festival’s “silence” on Gaza.

The signatories to the open letter, sent to AFP, said they were “appalled” by the festival’s “institutional silence” and “dismayed” at its “involvement in censoring artists who oppose Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”

Their statement came after the Berlinale’s jury president, German director Wim Wenders, answered a question on Gaza last week by saying: “We cannot really enter the field of politics.”

Prominent directors who signed Tuesday’s letter, coordinated by the Film Workers for Palestine collective, include British filmmaker Mike Leigh and the American Adam McKay.

The signatories include many artists who have presented work at the Berlin Film Festival. Swinton was herself last year awarded its prestigious Honorary Golden Bear award.

They said they “fervently disagree” with Wenders’s comments, arguing that filmmaking and politics cannot be separated.

“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 fulfill its moral duty and clearly state its opposition to Israel’s genocide,” the letter adds.

The signatories took exception not only to the Berlinale’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, but also “the German state’s key role in enabling” Israel’s actions.

The festival has been hit by controversy over Gaza several times in recent years.

When asked about Germany’s support for Israel at a press conference on Thursday, Wenders said filmmakers had “to stay out of politics.”

“We have to do the work of people, not the work of politicians,” he said.

Fellow jury member Ewa Puszczynska said it was a “little bit unfair” to expect the jury to take a direct stance on the issue.

Their comments had already sparked a backlash. Award-winning Indian novelist Arundhati Roy cancelled a planned appearance at the festival, saying she was “shocked and disgusted” at the jury members’ comments.

On Saturday, the Berlinale put out a statement defending Wenders from the “media storm,” indicating that his remarks had been taken out of context.

Festival director Tricia Tuttle said that artists “are free to exercise their right of free speech in whatever way they choose” and should not “be expected to speak on every political issue raised to them unless they want to.”

In 2024, the festival’s documentary award went to “No Other Land,” which follows the dispossession of Palestinian communities in the Israel-controlled West Bank.

German government officials criticised “one-sided” remarks about Gaza by the directors of that film and others at that year’s awards ceremony.

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, during which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 abducted to the Strip, sparking a hostage crisis that lasted until the recovery of the last captive in late January.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 72,000 people in the Strip have been killed during the war — including over 500 since the October 2025 ceasefire — though the toll does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The Israeli military believes that Hamas’s overall toll is largely accurate, with IDF officials estimating that two to three civilians were killed for every dead terror operative.

The IDF says it has killed over 23,000 combatants in Gaza and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.

Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 476. The toll includes two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.

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