Berlin 2024: Workers call for “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza
Contracted workers at the Berlin Film Festival have shared an open letter calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza.
Around 30 staff members signed the petition, which they state was published with the intention to “hold the festival and ourselves to a higher standard”. Prior to the publication of the open letter, the Berlin Film Festival said on Israel-Gaza: “Our sympathy goes out to all the victims of the humanitarian crises in the Middle East and elsewhere… We want everyone’s suffering to be recognised and for our programme to be open to discussing different perspectives on the complexity of the world.”
In response, workers at the Berlin Film Festival condemned the event for its stance, stating on February 12th: “We are painfully aware of the unbearable dynamics of institutional inertia in the cultural sector in Germany, and we recognise the current limits imposed on speech. We want to hold the festival and ourselves to a higher standard.”
The message continued: “An international platform such as the Berlinale and we, in our roles as programmers, consultants, moderators, facilitators, and space holders, alongside further Berlinale workers, can and should voice dissent at the current assault on Palestinian life. We join a global solidarity movement to demand an immediate ceasefire and call for the release of all hostages.”
The statement added: “While we acknowledge isolated and minor attempts to create space for exchange, we would expect the programme of this year’s festival to engage more actively and discursively with the urgency and reality of the moment by holding dialogue spaces of its own initiative and design in the big houses we call cinemas. Instead, we witness no initiatives that invite professionals and/or audiences into a dedicated space of discussion structured in a way that allows for a lengthy encounter between everyone.”
Berlin Film Festival will be staging an initiative called Tiny House, which plans to be a place “where an open dialogue about the war in Israel and Gaza” can occur.
Additionally, on February 17th, Berlin Film Festival will stage the premiere of documentary, No Other Land. The film, which has been made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective, tells a true story of an Israeli journalist who befriends a Palestinian activist that lives on the West Bank and explores the differences between their upbrings.
The letter from workers arrives after the Berlinale previously invited then disinvited members of the German far-right political party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) to the opening gala.
As it is a publicly funded event, the local legislature in Berlin states that members of all political parties should be invited. Since 2017, members of the AfD have been present at the opening gala, but due to rising far-right protests in Germany and allegations AfD members met with neo-Nazi’s to discuss a mass deportation scheme, their presence is no longer welcome.
See the full statement below.
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