In the wake of criticism over the Berlin International Film Festival’s invitation of far-right politicians to the opening ceremonies, the festival has announced it will be canceling the event.In addition to Kristin Brinker, Berlin state chairwoman of Alternative for Germany (AfD) and her deputy Roland Briller, both elected members of Alternative for Germany have accepted the invitation to attend the event on February 15th.
A letter signed by several hundred movie professionals and cultural workers has denounced the move, calling on festival organizers to “rescind and reconsider this offensive and insensitive invitation” and ask them to reconsider the move.
It is our firm belief that this opening ceremony will not be a safe place for Jews, women, people of color, LGBTI+, those with disabilities, those from Roma and Sinti communities and those who follow Jehovah’s Witness faiths, who have faced persecution and genocide at the hands of other nationalist, far-right movements in Germany.
There are several prominent individuals who have signed the initiative, including Jemma Desai, a UK-based writer and programmer, Saeed Taji Farouky, a renowned Palestinian British filmmaker, and Konstantina Levi, an entrepreneur in Berlin.
In terms of the global film industry, the Berlinale festival is one of the most important events on the calendar, which receives some state funding. Usually tens of thousands of cinephiles attend the festival every year and it showcases 239 films this year.
Lupita Nyong’o, the Oscar-winning actress who recently won a best actress award for her role in the film The Vow, will preside over the jury, which includes Christian Petzold, Ann Hui from Hong Kong, and Albert Serra from Spain.
As a result, the festival was accused of being bureaucratic for including far-right politicians because they denounced their ideology in their statement on their decision to include them.
According to the statement, both the Federal Minister for Culture and Media and the senate of Berlin are entitled to receive invitations to the Berlinale opening, which are then allocated to the elected members of each party,” while adding this was the context in which the representatives of the AfD had been invited.
It is the Berlinale’s policy not to invite participants who act contrary to democratic values, including representatives who are elected by the people.
In a posting on Berlinale’s social media accounts, the festival expressed its intention to express its disapproval of the AfD representatives “clearly, empathically, and empathically” through a letter.
I have been informed that Lawrence Lek has withdrawn from a program of the film festival focusing on artist development, citing that he has received invitations from other film festivals.
According to him, the AfD is made up of nationalist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, and anti-immigrant climate change deniers, and I will never be able to imagine sharing the same space with them.
According to the response from Berlinale, their protocol is to invite democracy elected officials as their guests. This response is absolutely inadequate. The organisers of this film festival are following an old, outdated script, and I am not able to participate in a film festival like this.”
In addition to adding to the growing crisis in Germany, the scandal has further exacerbated the situation.
There has been a surge in protests against the far-right since the beginning of the year, and a high-profile boycott of state-funded cultural institutions has been launched over the country’s pro-Israel position even as the Gaza war continues.
There is no doubt in my mind that multiculturalism is going to be the norm one day. In the meantime, I must call attention to the Islamophobia that is widespread in discussions on Palestine in the media, especially in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States,” Lawrence Lek said at the press conference”.
This segment of the book exposes the hypocrisy at the heart of the so-called “antifascism” that is fundamental to German liberals today.
The Berlinale is an example of how the AfD is not ‘firewalled’ in any meaningful shape or form, even though Germany’s political parties lip service to the ‘firewall’ between them and the AfD, and their policies are often not very different from the AfD’s. Germany’s political parties are often not effectively ‘firewalled’ from the AfD, and the Berlinale shows how that is the case,” he added.
There has recently been a clash between two protest movements that have been ongoing for a while, signaling heightened tensions.
An anti-far-right demonstration in Germany was reportedly disrupted by pro-Palestinian demonstrators being rejected by some of the protesters.
In order to illustrate how little German society realizes or wants to be aware of the connection between Palestinians and the AfD, and how significant the risk it poses to migrants and minorities in Germany, Dayan pointed out that pro-Palestinian demonstrators were shut out and even attacked during demonstrations against the AfD.
In recent months, the Berlinale has become one of the many German cultural institutions to come under attack.
A number of international artists have faced criticism from German organisations because of their pro-Palestinian activism since Israel’s war in Gaza began in early October. Other international artists are having their invitations withdrawn or their events cancelled due to Israel’s aggression.Those are the news headlines provided by Timenews.
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