Berlin Fest Sets Out Position on “Mutually Respectful” Dialogue, Antisemitism, Solidarity With Palestine
The 75th edition of the Berlin Film Festival will open on Thursday in a politically charged atmosphere. Not only does the Israel-Gaza conflict continue to cause debate, but Germany is also heading to the polls for a national election on Feb. 23, the final day of this year’s Berlinale.
The rise of the far-right AfD in the polls has been met by mass anti-right protests in the country, with an estimated 250,000 people turning out in Munich over the weekend.
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Last year, a controversy engulfed the Berlinale when organizers initially, as had been standard protocol, invited Berlin parliamentary members of the AfD to the opening ceremony, only to disinvite them after an uproar. Organizers signaled in an interview with THR that they will not be inviting them this year.
With all that in mind, the Berlinale posted notes on its website in Tuesday, saying it “invites all guests, the film teams and the audience to participate in an exchange that is open, pluralistic and mutually respectful. For more, read our FAQs Dialogue & Exchange.”
The festival emphasized that the wearing of clothes or symbols showing solidarity with Palestine is allowed at the festival, clarifying a reference in previous festival protocols to Germany’s laws against hate speech. The Berlinale noted that the legal provision refers only to “the wearing and use of prohibited symbols and signs that are demonstrably punishable by law, such as the swastika. Wearing or displaying other signs and symbols of national or political expression or solidarity (e.g. a watermelon pin, a Keffiyeh, etc.) is not forbidden and is fully covered by freedom of expression laws.”
However, the post cautions against the use of certain language when discussing the Israel-Gaza conflict, noting that “recent court cases in Germany” have interpreted the phrase “from the river to the sea” — a common chant in pro-Palestinian demonstrations — as a call to end Israel and, as such, as prohibited hate speech.
In another Berlinale note, festival director Tricia Tuttle shares her thoughts on “free speech, brave spaces, and film.”
“We are a film festival. But Berlinale is also a community of people coming together with a desire to create an inclusive, open environment around cinema,” she writes, among other things. “While we must not take these things for granted – neither a healthy future for independent cinema, nor the kinds of cultural environments we want to maintain – there is reason to be hopeful about both. We value and protect free speech but as we have seen in online spaces all over the world, an advocacy for free speech alone is not enough. We have to bring kindness, care about facts and the desire not only to speak but also a hope that people might hear us.”
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