The Berlin Film Festival has released a statement from director Tricia Tuttle addressing a media storm over attendees' comments on politics. The backlash intensified after jury head Wim Wenders urged staying out of politics during a press conference on the Gaza conflict. Indian author Arundhati Roy withdrew from the event in response.
The Berlinale, officially known as the Berlin Film Festival, faced significant criticism early in its 2026 edition over how participants handled questions about global political issues. On the opening day, jury president Wim Wenders responded to inquiries about the conflict in Gaza by stating, “We have to stay out of politics because if we make movies that are dedicatedly political, we enter the field of politics.” This remark drew immediate backlash on social media.
Indian author Arundhati Roy subsequently pulled out of the festival, citing anger over the comments. Actors Michelle Yeoh and Neil Patrick Harris also encountered online criticism for their reactions to questions on politics and the rise of fascism. Harris emphasized his interest in “doing things that were apolitical.”
In a statement issued late on Saturday night, festival director Tricia Tuttle defended the space for free speech while arguing against expectations for artists to address every political topic. She noted, “Artists should not be expected to comment on all broader debates about a festival’s previous or current practices over which they have no control. Nor should they be expected to speak on every political issue raised to them unless they want to.” Tuttle highlighted the festival's 278 films, which explore themes including genocide, sexual violence in war, corruption, patriarchal violence, colonialism, and abusive state power.
The statement acknowledged filmmakers who have faced violence, prison, exile, or death for their work, and those focusing on art's role in preserving independent cinema. It stressed a shared respect for human dignity amid suffering in places like Gaza, the West Bank, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Iran, Ukraine, and Minneapolis. Tuttle concluded that the festival continues because “we love cinema but we also hope and believe watching films can change things even if that is the glacial shift of changing people, one heart or mind at a time.”