Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle may be poised to leave the Berlinale, according to a report in German tabloid newspaper Bild today.
Germany’s biggest tabloid reports German minister of state for culture Wolfram Weimer has called a meeting of the Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin GmbH (KBB) management for Thursday, February 26.
The KBB is responsible for the management of the Berlinale.
The Berlinale shared a statement from Germany’s federal government commissioner for culture and media (BKM), which read: “BKM confirms that on Thursday morning there will be an extraordinary meeting of the Supervisory Board of KBB GmbH at the initiative of State Minister Wolfram Weimer. Weimer is the Chair of the Supervisory Board. The meeting will include a discussion on the future direction of the Berlinale. We will not comment on any further speculation.”
Bild reports that the federal government has indicated the extraordinary board meeting will focus on possible personnel changes. Screen has not been able to confirm this detail.
The KBB meeting comes after a turbulent 76th edition of the festival. According to Reuters, German environment minister Carsten Schneider left the closing ceremony on Saturday, February 21 in protest at a speech by Abdallah Al-Khatib, who won the Berlinale Perspectives top prize with Chronicles From The Siege.
Al-Khatib, who was carrying a Palestinian flag on stage, accused the current German government of being “partners in the genocide in Gaza by Israel.”
Schneider issued a statement saying he “considers these statements unacceptable and therefore left the event during the speech.”
In her role as festival director, Tuttle attended events at the festival including the premiere of Al-Khatib’s Chronicles From The Siege on Sunday, February 15, as well as a drinks gathering for the Israeli film community on the same day.
Political controversy dogged the 11 days of the festival following the jury opening press conference, when jury president Wim Wenders described filmmakers as “the opposite of politics”.
Several high-profile talent then fielded direct questions about political issues with varying degrees of openness, before Tuttle issued a statement on February 14 in which she said “artists should not be expected to comment on all debates.”
Over 80 former Berlinale attendees including Tilda Swinton and Javier Bardem then signed an open letter published on the evening of February 18, criticising the festival for its stance on Gaza. “We recognise the depth of anger and frustration,” said Tuttle to Screen the following day.
The political issues were referenced at the closing ceremony, including by Wenders, who made a seven-minute speech in which he addressed “the artificial discrepancy” between the languages of cinema and social media. Tuttle also spoke on how the festival “has taken place in a world that feels raw and fractured.”
No comments yet