Berlinale festival director Tricia Tuttle has thanked the German and international film industry for its “outpouring of support”, just days after it was confirmed she would remain in the role.
She also stressed her “firm belief” in the festival’s independence, after recommendations for a new advisory council and code of conduct for the Berlinale were announced this week by German state minister for culture Wolfram Weimer, who is also chair of the festival’s supervisory committee, the KBB.
Thousands of international filmmakers and execs signed petitions in support of Tuttle amid reports that she might leave the Berlinale in the wake of the politically charged 2026 edition of the festival.
In a statement posted on the Berlinale website today (March 6), Tuttle called the outpouring of support from German cultural organisations and international cinema and film festival communities “deeply moving”.
“I am so grateful to everyone who reached out, and also feel the responsibility it confers on me and on the Berlinale to lead the way in navigating fraught waters.”
Tuttle added that she would not have continued as director “without a firm belief in the clear and unequivocal reaffirmation of the independence of the Berlinale.”
She said the recommendations from the KBB supervisory board “are in fact recommendations and not conditions of my employment. The Board’s renewed expression of faith in my leadership signals their trust in us to consider each proposal seriously and open-mindedly. We will do this in acknowledgement that they share our commitment to the democratic, pluralist principle of free expression.
“The acceptance of these recommendations, and the manner of their implementation, will be for us to decide. On any points related to wider KBB policies, I will be one of four directors of the KBB involved in those discussions. Together, we represent many people working in culture across the Berlinale, Berliner Festspiele with the Gropius Bau, and the Haus der Kulturen der Welt.”
Tuttle said she was “proud that we have emerged from this difficult moment with a stronger Berlinale, more visibly committed than ever to promoting the vitality of cinema. Where filmmakers from Germany and around the world present their work freely to our endlessly adventurous audiences. Where diverse voices are amplified. And where artistic expression is protected.
“This is the actual work of a film festival, and my team and I can’t wait to get started on that work for the Berlinale’s 77th edition.”
She signed off the statement by noting that İlker Çatak’s Golden Bear winner Yellow Letters opens in Germany this week, and will be released internationally soon. “See you in the cinema!” said Tuttle.
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