Berlin – Zaytoun News
Renowned Indian author Arundhati Roy has withdrawn from participating in the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) 2026, protesting what she described as “unconscionable statements” made by the jury president and members regarding the war in Gaza.
Roy had been scheduled to attend a screening of her 1989 campus comedy film In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones, featured in the festival’s Classics section. She said the selection of the film had felt “sweet and wonderful” to her.
The controversy erupted during the festival’s opening press conference, when members of the jury were asked about the war in Gaza and the position of the German government, which funds the festival and supports Israel.
Jury president, German filmmaker Wim Wenders, responded to questions by saying: “We have to stay out of politics, because if we make films that are dedicatedly political, we enter the field of politics. We are the counterweight to politics; we are the opposite of politics. We have to do the work of people, not the work of politicians.”
Fellow jury member Ewa Puszczyńska also pushed back against focusing specifically on Gaza, noting that there are other wars where “genocides are committed” that do not receive equal attention, and describing the question as “complicated and unfair.”
Roy described the jury’s stance as “unconscionable” and said it reflected an attempt to silence discussion of a crime against humanity unfolding in real time. In her statement, she said she was “shocked and disgusted” by the responses, arguing that declaring art should not be political effectively narrows the space for dialogue about the crisis in Gaza. She therefore announced her formal withdrawal from the festival and confirmed she would not attend its events.
Her statement went beyond criticizing the jury’s remarks, directly addressing the positions of the German government and several German cultural institutions regarding the war in Gaza. Roy described what is happening as “a genocide against the Palestinian people,” adding that political and financial support from governments such as the United States, Germany, and several European countries makes them complicit in what she called crimes against humanity.
She noted that despite her concerns about official positions, she had previously experienced political solidarity from German audiences when speaking about Palestine. However, the jury’s statements, she said, changed the situation and led her to decide against participating.
Reactions within Germany and across cultural institutions have been mixed and contentious. So far, no major official statement has been issued by German government such as the Ministry of Culture or leading cultural institutions either condemning the jury’s stance or explicitly supporting Roy. However, the German press has highlighted divisions of opinion over the role of art in addressing global humanitarian crises, and pointed to an apparent contradiction between Berlinale’s historically political character and the current jury’s position.
Internationally, Roy has received support from various cultural figures and institutions. Among them, historian and writer William Dalrymple, a co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival, expressed pride in her stance, describing it as an example of how artists should respond to major moral and political questions.
At the same time, broader debates have intensified in the international press about the role of art and artists in confronting major political and humanitarian events. The controversy has fueled discussion over whether art can or should remain neutral in times of war, or whether cultural institutions have a responsibility to take ethical positions on issues such as Gaza. The debate has extended well beyond the Berlinale, reaching wider cinematic, literary, and academic communities around the world.
6 Total Count
