Martin Scorsese, Joanna Hogg and M. Night Shyamalan Lead 200 Filmmakers in Protest of Berlinale Artistic Director’s Ousting
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
More than 200 international filmmakers have rallied in support of ousted Berlinale artistic director Carlo Chatrian, pledging their names to an open letter imploring the cultural organization to keep the artist director in place. Among the first signatories were Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader, Joanna Hogg, “Corsage” director Marie Kreutzer, Andrew Ross Perry, and Olivier Assayas. Over the course of the day on Wednesday, another 130 directors joined them, the list swelling to include M. Night Shyamalan, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Tilda Swinton, and Claire Denis. 260 filmmakers have now signed the open letter.
“We, a diverse group of filmmakers from all over the world, who have deep respect for Berlin International Film Festival as a place for great cinema of all kinds, protest the harmful, unprofessional, and immoral behavior of state minister Claudia Roth in forcing the esteemed Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian to step down despite promises to prolong his contract,” says the letter.
Chatrian had expected to stay on after the March 2024 edition of the festival, but the board that oversees the fest — the KBB — opted not to extend his contract and has chosen instead to replace him. That news was first reported by Screendaily last week.
A leading festival director told TheWrap that the cinephile Chatrian might have rankled the Berlinale board, who are looking to take the festival in a more populist direction.
The 130 signatories addressed those concerns in their letter, arguing that “Chatrian may not be a showman but in his quiet ways, he and his team have chosen an open and artistically rewarding curatorial path, showing new directions in world cinema, challenging stereotypes, and connecting different strands of filmmaking.”
“Despite the most difficult circumstances all beyond Chatrian’s control,” they continued, “the past editions under his guiding light were very much alive, full of positive surprises and, despite a smaller number of films shown, very popular, on par with pre-pandemic times.”
Read the full open letter below.
We, a diverse group of filmmakers from all over the world, who have deep respect for Berlin International Film Festival as a place for great cinema of all kinds, protest the harmful, unprofessional, and immoral behavior of state minister Claudia Roth in forcing the esteemed Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian to step down despite promises to prolong his contract.
Carlo Chatrian may not be a showman but in his quiet ways, he and his team have chosen an open and artistically rewarding curatorial path, showing new directions in world cinema, challenging stereotypes, and connecting different strands of filmmaking.
Despite the most difficult circumstances all beyond Chatrian’s control—the pandemic, financial restrictions, and a deteriorating festival center around Potsdamer Platz—the past editions under his guiding light were very much alive, full of positive surprises and, despite a smaller number of films shown, very popular, on par with pre-pandemic times.
Also, the films awarded with the main important prizes of the festival in the last four years are confirmed to be important films, as all of them are critically acclaimed and shown all over the world either in commercial circuits or in other important festivals.
Instead of rewarding Carlo Chatrian for his effort, dedication, and patience, the minister has chosen to further increase the difficulties until Carlo Chatrian was forced to announce that he will not continue after the completion of his current contract, as the position of Artistic Director has been dissolved.
Unsurprisingly, no better vision for the festival was presented or discussed, other than the questionable and politically backward demand for a strong hand the Berlinale supposedly needs in the form of an “Intendant”.
We strongly demand to prolong Carlo Chatrian‘s tenure and repair the damage done to this essential film festival.
Signatures:
Tizza Covi
Rainer Frimmel
Nathan Silver
Anocha Suwichakornpong
Kent Jones
Radu Jude
Zhengfan Yang
Shengze Zhu
Christoph Hochhäusler
Gastón Solnicki
Lina Rodriguez
Rolf de Heer
Andrei Ujică
Veronika Franz
Severin Fiala
Tom Shoval
Ognjen Glavonić
Kleber Mendonça Filho
Cyril Schäublin
Alex Ross Perry
Nicolás Pereda
Antoine Bourges
Alessandro Comodin
Simone Rapisarda Casanova
Roberto Minervini
Dasha Nekrasova
C.W. Winter
Guy Maddin
Matt Johnson
Michel Lipkes
Yousry Nasrallah
Matías Piñeiro
Travis Wilkerson
Sylvain George
Joao Pedro Rodrigues
Joao Rui Guerra da Mata
Alejo Franzetti
Gabriel Abrantes
Ben Rivers
Jerónimo Atehortúa
Ricardo Pretti
Gerd Kroske
Angela Schanelec
Avi Mograbi
Beatrice Gibson
Mauro Herce
Silvan Zürcher
Molly Reynolds
Luiz Pretti
Ben Russell
Athina Rachel Tsangari
Iván Granovsky
Roger Koza
Dominga Sotomayor
Amat Escalante
Matias Meyer
Khavn
Achinette Villamor
Dustin Guy Defa
Kaya Behkalam
Andreas Fontana
Steffen Goldkamp
Syllas Tzoumerkas
Martin Scorsese
Paul Schrader
Julio Hernández Cordón
Annemarie Jacir
Yeo Siew Hua
Fran Borgia
Dan Koh
Maria Speth
Mareike Wegener
Miguel Gomes
Andrea Pallaoro
Beniamino Barrese
Laura Citarella
Camilo Restrepo
Soda Jerk
Benjamin Heisenberg
Ulrich Köhler
Max Linz
Axel Koenzen
Maureen Fazendeiro
Florian Koerner von Gustorf
Anton Kaiser
Ramon Zürcher
Ted Fendt
Alexandre Koberidze
Anna Sofie Hartmann
Kirsten Tan
Reinhild Blaschke
Verena Paravel
Cynthia Beatt
Jonathan Perel
Joanna Hogg
Julian Radlmaier
Nelson Yeo
Lisa Bierwirth
Henning Beckhoff
Ulrich Seidl
KIM Young woo
Vitali Mansky
Sebastian Brameshuber
Athanasios Karanikolas
Tobias Madison
Abbas Fahdel
Kurdwin Ayub
Corneliu Porumboiu
Frédéric Jaeger
Stefano Centini
Christian Petzold
Stefan Ivančić
Éric Baudelaire
K.Rajagopal
Michael Krummenacher
Basma al-Sharif
Tulapop Saenjaroen
Jow Zhi Wei
Chanasorn Chaikittiporn
Thomas Arslan
Stefan Butzmühlen
Jeremy Chua
Ruth Beckermann
Timm Kröger
Raam Reddy
Aline Fischer
Burak Cevik
Olivier Assayas
Danaya Chulphuthiphong
Carlo Sironi
The post Martin Scorsese, Joanna Hogg and M. Night Shyamalan Lead 200 Filmmakers in Protest of Berlinale Artistic Director’s Ousting appeared first on TheWrap.
