Berlinale organisers said it respects the decision made by Indian author Arundhati Roy to pull out of a scheduled appearance due to comments made by jury president Wim Wenders.
At the press conference on Wednesday, Wenders said in response to a question about the political side of the festival: “We have to stay out of politics. If we make movies that are dedicatedly political, we enter the field of politics. But we are the counterweight to politics.”
Roy was due to attend the festival to present 1989 short In Which Annie Give It Those Ones, which she wrote and is part of the Classics strand.
However, in a statement made to the press in India, Roy said she will now not attend, in response to what she described as “unconscionable statements made by members of the jury”,
“To hear them say that art should not be political is jaw-dropping,” she continued. ”It is a way of shutting down a conversation about a crime against humanity even as it unfolds before us in real time – when artists, writers and filmmakers should be doing everything in their power to stop it.”
The Berlinale has responded, saying it ”respects this decision,” and added: ”We regret that we will not welcome her as her presence would have enriched the festival discourse.”
The Berlinale has navigated several political rows in recent years, including criticism of its reaction to the speech from No Other Land directors Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham at the 2024 awards ceremony, and the invitation and then disinvitation of five politicians from the right-wing German political party AfD.
Roy is the author of Booker prize winner The God Of Small Things and The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness. She is an outspoken critic of Israel.
Read Roy’s full statement below.
In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones, a whimsical film that I wrote 38 years ago, was selected to be screened under the Classics section at the Berlinale 2026. There was something sweet and wonderful about this for me.
Although I have been profoundly disturbed by the positions taken by the German government and various German cultural institutions on Palestine, I have always received political solidarity when I have spoken to German audiences about my views on the genocide in Gaza. This is what made it possible for me to think of attending the screening of Annie at the Berlinale.
This morning, like millions of people across the world, I heard the unconscionable statements made by members of the jury of the Berlin film festival when they were asked to comment about the genocide in Gaza. To hear them say that art should not be political is jaw-dropping. It is a way of shutting down a conversation about a crime against humanity even as it unfolds before us in real time – when artists, writers and filmmakers should be doing everything in their power to stop it.
Let me say this clearly: what has happened in Gaza, what continues to happen, is a genocide of the Palestinian people by the State of Israel. It is supported and funded by the governments of the United States and Germany, as well as several other countries in Europe, which makes them complicit in the crime.
If the greatest filmmakers and artists of our time cannot stand up and say so, they should know that history will judge them. I am shocked and disgusted.
With deep regret, I must say that I will not be attending the Berlinale.
Arundhati Roy
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