Nick Cave defends Wim Wenders after he said movies should “stay out” of politics: “Wim’s words moved me”
Nick Cave has leapt to the defence of director Wim Wenders after he said that films should “stay out of politics”.
Wenders made the controversial remark at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, where he acted as the jury president.
During the opening press conference earlier this month, Wenders stated, “Yes, movies can change the world. Not in a political way. No movie has really changed any politician’s idea, but … we can change the idea that people have of how they should live.”
In the same press conference, he also said in response to a question about Gaza, “We have to stay out of politics because if we make movies that are dedicatedly political, we enter the field of politics.”
The director added, “But we are the counterweight of politics, we are the opposite of politics. We have to do the work of people, not the work of politicians.”
Wenders faced pushback for his comments, including Arundhati Roy pulling out of a planned appearance at the event and labelling the remarks as “jaw-dropping”.
Now, in the latest edition of The Red Hand Files, Cave has expressed solidarity with Wenders, writing, “I have known Wim for over forty years, and his response to the question at the Berlinale moved me deeply. It reaffirmed my understanding of him as a passionately principled, thoughtful, and courageous man — a person who cares profoundly about film and the state of the creative world.”
He added, “His words were a caring, gentle, and protective gesture, directed not only at the artistic community but at humanity itself, and despite the predictable pile-on, I suspect that many artists, maybe most, will genuinely appreciate his words.”
Cave then criticised the boycott of Adelaide Festival, which saw over 180 people withdraw from the literary event after Palestinian-Australian author Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah’s invite to participate in Writers Week was cancelled due to “cultural sensitivities” following the antisemitic terrorist attack in Bondi Beach.
A new board has been appointed to the Adelaide Festival, and Abdel-Fattah has been invited to appear at the 2027 event.
However, Cave said of the boycott, “In almost cosmic display of stupidity, that entire event was vaporised in a mushroom cloud of cowardice, performative outrage, self-righteous posturing, cancellations, counter-cancellations, mob trots and general narcissistic silliness. ‘Political art’, taken to its extreme, became ‘no art’. No art at all, as Australia’s longest running literary festival collapsed under a mass walkout.”
Cave theorised that Wenders could be trying to “save the Berlinale from succumbing to the fate of those festivals that have become little more than a narrowing of the cultural imagination”, which he claimed are “being sucked down the sinkhole of a single monolithic ideology — one voice, one cause, one dissent.”
Although Cave said that “I do not imagine for a moment that Wim thinks art should ignore the great and persistent injustices of the world”, the Australian added, “He seems to believe, as I do, that using art to raise awareness of these injustices can be extremely effective, but perhaps he also believes that art is more than the sum of its utility; it is more than a tool or a weapon.”
Of his own perspective, Cave said, “Art captivates us and imparts a sense of what it means to be human, broadening our understanding of the world and our own place within it — that we have the right to love, laugh, cry, and be thrilled by the world. This is art’s largesse — to remind us that life is worth living.”
The singer-songwriter then expressed his hopes that Wenders’ comments “will encourage artists to feel confident expressing how they truly see themselves, in all their radical complexity and diversity, to say, ‘This is what I am. This is how I feel.’”
He concluded by saying the remarks “filled me with a kind of relief, a sense of freedom and sudden potential” and stated that he believes “many felt the same”.
Cave’s comments arrive a week after an open letter was signed by more than 80 stars of the screen, including Tilda Swinton, Javier Bardem, Angeliki Papoulia, Peter Mullan, Adam McKay, and Mike Leigh, criticising the Berlin Film Festival for its position on Palestine.
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