Berlin’s Carlo Chatrian Defends “Freedom of Speech” at Awards Gala Amid Political Backlash

Etan Vlessing
·3 min read
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The 2024 edition of the Berlinale continues to generate heated debate around Israel’s war in Gaza, with out-going Berlin festival artistic director Carlo Chatrian defending the Feb. 24 closing awards show speeches against mounting criticism from German politicians and media.

“This year’s festival was a place for dialogue and exchange for ten days; yet once the films stopped rolling, another form of communication has been taken over by politicians and the media, one which weaponizes and instrumentalizes antisemitism for political means,” Chatrian said in a letter posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Friday.

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The artistic chief argued statements made on stage at Saturday’s closing awards gala were protected under German freedom of speech laws.

“No matter our individual political convictions or beliefs, we should all keep in mind that freedom of speech is an essential part of what defines a democracy. The award ceremony on Saturday, February 24 has been targeted in such a violent way that some people now see their lives threatened. This is unacceptable,” Chatrian and Mark Peranson, head of programming, added in their joint online letter.

On Feb. 27, No Other Land co-director Yuval Abraham in his own X post said he had received death threats after calling for “equality between Israelis and Palestinians “ during the Berlinale closing gala when he accepted the best documentary prize. Abraham said he was forced to cancel his flight back to Israel out of fear for his safety.

Chatrian and Peranson said they “stand in solidarity” with other filmmakers, jury members and festival guests who may also have received direct or indirect threats. Their social media post follows an escalating political debate in Germany over the closing ceremony last weekend where award winners were allowed to call out the Israeli government for its actions in the war in Gaza.

On Tuesday, German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann criticized the Berlinale for allowing what he called “antisemitic” statements to go unchallenged at the awards gala. Berlin mayor Kai Wegner called the gala “intolerable” saying “antisemitism has no place in Berlin, and that also applies to the art scene.” He said the Berlinale management must ensure “such incidents” do not happen again.

And Bettina Stark-Watzinger, the German minister for education and science, posted on X that the pro-Palestinian statements represented a “perpetrator-victim reversal on an open stage.” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also condemned the Israel-critical statements at the Berlinale finale as “one-sided positioning” that “cannot be allowed to stand,” according to a government spokesperson.

The Berlinale as an organization has distanced itself from the comments made by festival winners, saying the statements made on the festival stage were “sometimes one-sided and activist” and were an “expression of individual personal opinions” that “in no way reflect the festival’s position.”

In a statement before the awards, Berlinale executive director Mariëtte Rissenbeek condemned the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 and called for a return of all hostages. She also called on Israel to do whatever it could to prevent civilian casualties in the region.

The X post from Chatrain and Peranson follows:

March 1, 2024

We have a great deal of respect for the institution we are working for and for the country that has hosted us for the last five years. The way Germany has handled its past and overcome it, becoming a leading country in supporting human rights and welcoming people in distress has been admirable, and that is one of the reasons why we have been so proud to work for the Berlinale. Knowing that our backgrounds don’t allow us to fully comprehend the complexity of people’s feelings and beliefs, we have always aligned with the festival’s decisions even when these were not exactly ours and at times did not go in the direction of what an international film festival should stand for.

The last days have made us aware of the great danger that the Berlinale, like other institutions in Germany, is facing. That’s why we dare to raise our voices. We stand for cinema, which doesn’t belong to any political party- it is neither right wing nor left wing. We believe in the power of cinema to unite people. This year’s festival was a place for dialogue and exchange for ten days; yet once the films stopped rolling, another form of communication has been taken over by politicians and the media, one which weaponizes and instrumentalizes anti-Semitism for political means. No matter our individual political convictions or beliefs, we should all keep in mind that freedom of speech is an essential part of what defines a democracy. The award ceremony on Saturday, February 24 has been targeted in such a violent way that some people now see their lives threatened. This is unacceptable.

We stand in solidarity with all filmmakers, jury members, and other festival guests who have received direct or indirect threats, and do not back down from any programming choices made at this ear’s Berlinale. We also take this opportunity to state that we deeply feel for the hostages still being held by Hamas, including former Berlinale guest David Cunio, and we call for an immediate release of all other hostages. We also feel for the lives of millions of people in Gaza; their lives are in danger. To the ones who say that it is either or, we want to remind you that sorrow is universal. Mourning the loss of human beings on one side doesn’t mean that we don’t mourn others’ losses too. Stating the opposite is simply dishonest, and shameful and polarizing behavior.

As festivalgoers and programmers, we truly hope that the Berlinale will stay a “window of the free world”. A place where any film can be shown. A place where any international guest can come without having their political views scrutinized. As Meron Mendel, director of the Bildungsstätte Anne Frank said when asked for comments regarding the award ceremony, “It would be wrong to describe all those who criticize Israel one-sidedly and sometimes with radical positions as antisemites…

Whether we like it or not, we have to learn to endure such debates!

Carlo Chatrian, artistic director

Mark Peranson, head of programming

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