More than 80 figures from the film world who have participated in the Berlin International Film Festival, including Tilda Swinton, Javier Bardem and British director Mike Leigh, have signed an open letter criticizing the Berlinale for “censoring artists who oppose Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the German state’s key role in enabling it.”

“We write as film workers, all of us past and current Berlinale participants, who expect the institutions in our industry to refuse complicity in the terrible violence that continues to be waged against Palestinians,” the text states. The signatories expressed their “dismay” at what they see as the festival’s involvement in silencing voices critical of the Israeli offensive.

The letter also reproaches the festival for failing to respond to demands from its own community to issue a statement that “affirms the Palestinian right to life, dignity, and freedom; condemns the ongoing genocide; and commits to uphold the right of artists to speak without constraint in support of Palestinian human rights.” According to the document, that would be “the least it can — and should — do.”

Additional names joining the initiative include writer-director Adam McKay, actor Brian Cox, Alison Oliver and Peter Mullan. The signatories argue that, just as the festival has spoken out in the past about atrocities in Iran or Ukraine, it should now “fulfil its moral duty” by clearly stating its opposition to the crimes they attribute to Israel and by ending what they describe as efforts to shield it from criticism and calls for accountability.

All of the signatories have previously attended the Berlinale or are participating in the current edition. Swinton, who received an honorary Golden Bear last year, had already sparked debate on that occasion with a speech denouncing “state-perpetrated crimes.”

The controversy adds to tensions that erupted at the official Competition jury press conference, when its president, Wim Wenders, responded to a question about “the genocide in Gaza” by drawing a distinction between the work of filmmakers and that of politicians: “We are the counterweight to politics. We are the opposite of politics,” he said.

During the festival, guests including Michelle Yeoh, Neil Patrick Harris and Rupert Grint were also asked about specific political issues, though many chose not to make explicit statements. Indian author Arundhati Roy cancelled her participation in protest at Wenders’ remarks, prompting festival director Tricia Tuttle to issue a statement.

“Artists are free to exercise their right of free speech in whatever way they choose,” Tuttle said. “They should not be expected to comment on all broader debates about a festival’s past or present practices over which they have no control.”

Open Letter to the Berlinale:

We write as film workers, all of us past and current Berlinale participants, who expect the institutions in our industry to refuse complicity in the terrible violence that continues to be waged against Palestinians. We are dismayed at the Berlinale’s involvement in censoring artists who oppose Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the German state’s key role in enabling it. As the Palestine Film Institute has stated, the festival has been “policing filmmakers alongside a continued commitment to collaborate with Federal Police on their investigations”.

Last year, filmmakers who spoke out for Palestinian life and liberty from the Berlinale stage reported being aggressively reprimanded by senior festival programmers. One filmmaker was reported to have been investigated by police, and Berlinale leadership falsely implied that the filmmaker’s moving speech – rooted in international law and solidarity – was “discriminatory”. As another filmmaker told Film Workers for Palestine about last year’s festival: “there was a feeling of paranoia in the air, of not being protected and of being persecuted, which I had never felt before at a film festival”. We stand with our colleagues in rejecting this institutional repression and anti-Palestinian racism.

We fervently disagree with the statement made by Berlinale 2026 jury president Wim Wenders that filmmaking is “the opposite of politics”. You cannot separate one from the other. We are deeply concerned that the German state-funded Berlinale is helping put into practice what Irene Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion recently condemned as Germany’s misuse of draconian legislation “to restrict advocacy for Palestinian rights, chilling public participation and shrinking discourse in academia and the arts”. This is also what Ai Weiwei recently described as Germany “doing what they did in the 1930s” (agreeing with his interviewer who suggested to him that “it’s the same fascist impulse, just a different target”). All of this at a time when we are learning horrifying new details about the 2,842 Palestinians “evaporated” by Israeli forces using internationally prohibited, U.S.-made thermal and thermobaric weapons. Despite abundant evidence of Israel’s genocidal intent, systematic atrocity crimes and ethnic cleansing, Germany continues to supply Israel with weapons used to exterminate Palestinians in Gaza.

The tide is changing across the international film world. Many international film festivals have endorsed the cultural boycott of apartheid Israel, including the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, the world’s biggest, as well as BlackStar Film Festival in the U.S., and Film Fest Gent, Belgium’s largest. More than 5,000 film workers, including leading Hollywood and international figures, have also announced their refusal to work with complicit Israeli film companies and institutions.

Yet Berlinale has so far not even met the demands of its community to issue a statement that affirms the Palestinian right to life, dignity, and freedom; condemns the ongoing Israeli genocide of Palestinians; and commits to uphold the right of artists to speak without constraint in support of Palestinian human rights. This is the least it can – and should – do.

As the Palestine Film Institute has said, “we are appalled by Berlinale’s institutional silence on the genocide of Palestinians, and its unwillingness to defend the freedoms of speech and expression of filmmakers”. Just as the festival has made clear statements in the past about atrocities carried out against people in Iran and Ukraine, we call on the Berlinale to fulfil its moral duty and clearly state its opposition to Israel’s genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Palestinians, and completely end its involvement in shielding Israel from criticism and calls for accountability.