Forgotten treasures: Uncovering the works of women Renaissance artists

THE 51 PERCENT © FRANCE 24

Issued on: 05/02/2021 -

By:Aline BOTTIN|Annette Young|Camille PAUVAREL|Stéphanie CHEVAL
14 min

We all know about great Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci. But were you aware that women were painting at that time too? Annette Young speaks to Linda Falcone whose Florence-based organisation, Advancing Women Artists, restores the works of female painters who were forgotten for centuries because of their gender.

Also a scandal over incest involving several public figures in France forces the country to confront an unspoken taboo, sparking a social media campaign and a government investigation.

Plus as the pandemic results in a greater number of homeless people in Paris, we visit a shelter established solely for women.

The ongoing fight for transgender rights in France

Issued on: 05/02/2021 - 

FRANCE IN FOCUS © FRANCE 2

By: Nadia CHARBIT|Stéphanie CHEVAL|Joanna COCKERELL|Sonia BARITELLO
13 min

This week, we're focusing on France's transgender community. Around 80 percent of people who identify as transgender in France report having been the target of discrimination and/or violence. This worrying figure is only the tip of the iceberg for these men and women, who are caught in a double bind of administrative, medical and social challenges and the dire economic consequences of those obstacles. We bring you a first-hand account of two transgender citizens. We also speak to sociologist and researcher Emmanuel Beaubatie about how France treats its transgender population.

RIP

Oscar winner and 'Sound of Mucus' star 

Christopher Plummer dies at 91




Issued on: 05/02/2021 - 

Text by: NEWS WIRES|

Video by: FRANCE 24

Christopher Plummer, the dashing award-winning actor who played Captain von Trapp in the film “The Sound of Music” and at 82 became the oldest Academy Award acting winner in history, has died. He was 91.

Plummer died Friday morning at his home in Connecticut with his wife, Elaine Taylor, by his side, said Lou Pitt, his longtime friend and manager.

Over more than 50 years in the industry, Plummer enjoyed varied roles ranging from the film “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” to the voice of the villain in 2009′s “Up” and as a canny lawyer in Broadway’s “Inherit the Wind.” In 2019 he starred as murdered mystery novelist in Rian Johnson’s whodunnit “Knives Out” and in the TV suspense drama series “Departure.”

But it was opposite Julie Andrews as von Trapp in 1965 that made him a star. He played an Austrian captain who must flee the country with his folk-singing family to escape service in the Nazi navy, a role he lamented was “humorless and one-dimensional.” Plummer spent the rest of his life referring to the film as “The Sound of Mucus” or “S&M.”

“We tried so hard to put humor into it,” he told The Associated Press in 2007. “It was almost impossible. It was just agony to try to make that guy not a cardboard figure.”

The role catapulted Plummer to stardom, but he never took to leading men parts, despite his silver hair, good looks and ever-so-slight English accent. He preferred character parts, considering them more meaty. His memoir in 2012 was titled "In Spite of Myself."

Tributes quickly came from Hollywood and Broadway. Joseph Gordon-Levitt called him “one of the greats” and George Takei posted “Rest in eternal music, Captain von Trapp.” Dave Foley, a fellow Canadian, wrote: “If I live to be 91 maybe I’ll have time to fully appreciate all the great work of Christopher Plummer.”

Plummer had a remarkable film renaissance late in life, which began with his acclaimed performance as Mike Wallace in Michael Mann’s 1999 film “The Insider,” continued in films such as 2001’s “A Beautiful Mind” and 2009′s “The Last Station,” in which he played a deteriorating Tolstoy and was nominated for an Oscar.

In 2012, Plummer won a supporting actor Oscar for his role in “Beginners” as Hal Fields, a museum director who becomes openly gay after his wife of 44 years dies. His loving, final relationship becomes an inspiration for his son, who struggles with his father’s death and how to find intimacy in a new relationship.

“Too many people in the world are unhappy with their lot. And then they retire and they become vegetables. I think retirement in any profession is death, so I’m determined to keep crackin’,” he told AP in 2011.

Plummer in 2017 replaced Kevin Spacey as J. Paul Getty in “All the Money in the World” just six weeks before the film was set to hit theaters. That choice that was officially validated in the best possible way for the film — a supporting Oscar nomination for Plummer, his third. “I was just hopeful that at my age, my memory would serve me,” he said at the time. “I had to learn my lines very quickly.”

There were fallow periods in his career — a “Pink Panther” movie here, a “Dracula 2000″ there and even a “Star Trek” — as a Klingon, no less. But Plummer had other reasons than the scripts in mind.

“For a long time, I accepted parts that took me to attractive places in the world. Rather than shooting in the Bronx, I would rather go to the south of France, crazed creature than I am,” he told AP in 2007. “And so I sacrificed a lot of my career for nicer hotels and more attractive beaches.”

The Canadian-born actor performed most of the major Shakespeare roles, including Hamlet, Iago, Othello, Prospero, Henry V and a staggering “King Lear” at Lincoln Center in 2004. He was frequent star at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada.

                              EM NY museum and Plummer

“I’ve become simpler and simpler with playing Shakespeare,” he said in 2007. “I’m not as extravagant as I used to be. I don’t listen to my voice so much anymore. All the pitfalls of playing the classics — you can fall in love with yourself.”

He won two Tony Awards. The first was in 1974 for best actor in a musical for playing the title role in “Cyrano” and his second in 1997 for his portrayal of John Barrymore in “Barrymore.” He also won two Emmys.

Plummer was born Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer in Toronto. His maternal great-grandfather was former Canadian Prime Minister Sir John Abbott. His parents divorced shortly after his birth and he was raised by his mother and aunts.

Plummer began his career on stage and in radio in Canada in the 1940s and made his Broadway debut in 1954 in “The Starcross Story.” While still a relative unknown, he was cast as Hamlet in a 1963 performance co-starring Robert Shaw and Michael Caine. It was taped by the BBC at Elsinore Castle in Denmark, where the play is set, and released in 1964. It won an Emmy.

Plummer married Tony-winning actress Tammy Grimes in 1956, and fathered his only child, actress Amanda Plummer, in 1957. Like both her parents, she also won a Tony, in 1982 for “Agnes of God.” (Grimes won two Tonys, for “Private Lives” and “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.”)

Plummer and Grimes divorced in 1960. A five-year marriage to Patricia Lewis ended in 1967. Plummer married his third wife, dancer Taylor, in 1970, and credited her with helping him overcome a drinking problem.

He was given Canada’s highest civilian honor when he was invested as Companion of the Order of Canada by Queen Elizabeth II in 1968, and was inducted into the American Theatre’s Hall of Fame in 1986.

(AP)

Tennis star Osaka slams 'ignorant' sexism from Tokyo Olympics chief
Issued on: 06/02/2021

Japan's Naomi Osaka has emerged as a potent voice on social issues 

VINCE CALIGIURI TENNIS AUSTRALIA/AFP


Melbourne (AFP)

Japanese tennis superstar Naomi Osaka Saturday slammed "ignorant" remarks from the Tokyo Olympics' chief organiser after a sexism row that has triggered an angry backlash and calls for his resignation.

Osaka, a leading face of the Games in her home nation, joined growing criticism of former Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori, 83, after he complained that women speak for too long in meetings.

The gaffe-prone Mori has apologised but refused to step down, and attempted to justify his comments by explaining he doesn't "speak to women much".

"I feel like that was a really ignorant statement to make," said Osaka, 23, referring to the original remarks.

"I think that someone that makes comments like that, they need to have more knowledge on the thing that they're talking about."

Osaka, the world's top-earning female athlete, emerged as a potent voice on social issues last year when she wore facemasks highlighting victims of racism and police brutality at the US Open.

"I also want to hear the reasoning behind those comments," added the three-time Grand Slam winner, ahead of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

"I also want to hear the perspective of everyone else that surrounds him."

Olympic medallists, Japanese sports officials and Games volunteers have lined up to lambast Mori, while Tokyo's governor said she was left "speechless" by the remarks.

Japan's Asahi Shimbun daily called in an editorial for Mori's resignation, and an online campaign urging his sacking has attracted more than 108,000 signatures.

Despite the uproar, the International Olympic Committee said Thursday it considered the issue "closed" after Mori's apology.

Osaka stopped short of calling for Mori's resignation, but said he should be made to understand why he has caused so much offence.

"I'm not sure if it's a situation where someone should demand that he resigns or if it's just something that people need to make him understand that what he said wasn't right," she said.

The row is the latest headache for organisers already battling public disquiet about the postponed Games, with polls showing more than 80 percent of Japanese oppose holding the event this summer with the coronavirus pandemic still raging.

Mori had already attracted criticism earlier in the week by insisting the Games would happen "however the coronavirus (pandemic) evolves".

Osaka said she remained keen to compete at the Games, which start in July, but added that public approval was crucial for them to go ahead.

© 2021 AFP

Nigeria's Okonjo-Iweala closes in on WTO top job after S. Korean rival withdraws

Issued on: 05/02/2021 

Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is looking to break another barrier as she bids to become the first African and woman to head the World Trade Organization (WTO).

 Fabrice COFFRINI AFP/Archives

Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a step closer to becoming the first African and first woman to lead the World Trade Organization, after a South Korean rival withdrew on Friday following months of uncertainty over the body's leadership.

Okonjo-Iweala faced opposition from the US administration of former President Donald Trump after a WTO selection panel recommended her as chief in October. The decision required consensus.

South Korea's trade minister Yoo Myung-hee's withdrawal clears the way for Okonjo-Iweala to be director-general of the global trade watchdog. Okonjo-Iweala said she was looking forward to the conclusion of the race.

"There is vital work ahead to do together," the former finance minister and World Bank executive said in a statement, saying she wanted to focus on needed reforms.

The embattled Geneva-based body has gone without a director-general since Brazil's Roberto Azevedo quit a year early in August and his replacement must contend with a Covid-induced recession, US-China tensions and rising protectionism.

In the more than three months since the selection panel recommended Okonjo-Iweala, Yoo had resisted mounting diplomatic pressure to bow out, until Friday.

"In order to promote the functions of WTO and in consideration of various factors, I have decided to withdraw my candidacy," Yoo said in a statement.

Yoo, who was a finalist selected from among eight candidates to lead the body, said her decision was made after consulting with allies including the US.

A trailblazer

Twice Nigeria's finance minister and its first woman foreign minister, Okonjo-Iweala has been a trailblazer.

Now the 66-year-old is looking to break another barrier as she bids to become the first African and woman to head the WTO.

Aside from her time in public office, the development economist had a quarter-century at the World Bank -- rising to be managing director and running for the top role in 2012.

Born in 1954 in Ogwashi Ukwu, in Delta State, western Nigeria, her father is a traditional ruler. She spent much of her life in the United States, graduating from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard, where she sent her four children.

Critics slam 'silence' over Nigerian corruption

But not everyone agrees her track record is impeccable.

"Okonjo-Iweala may have done some box-checking technocratic transparency reforms in her ministry but the fact is, nearly a billion dollars a month were going missing from oil revenues when she was finance minister," said Sarah Chayes, author of "Thieves of State", a book about corruption.

"I think it's a shame she is even being considered for the role," said Chayes.

"There is an appetite for this kind of good news story at a time when diversity issues are paramount, being female and black doesn't hurt."

The former minister has portrayed herself as a champion against Nigeria's rampant corruption -- and says her own mother was even kidnapped over her attempts to tackle the scourge.

But critics insist she should have done more to stop it while in power.

"At the very least, she had the opportunity to resign from office and expose the corruption," said Olanrewaju Suraju, from the Human and Environmental Development Agenda campaign group.

"Rather, she kept quiet and allowed high-level corruption to fester under the regime, only to complain after leaving office."

Waiting for Washington

The leadership race comes Observers say the WTO is facing the deepest crisis in its 25-year history.

It has not clinched a major multilateral trade deal in years and failed to hit a 2020 deadline on ending subsidies for overfishing.

Some of its functions are paralysed due to the actions of the Trump administration which blocked judge appointments to its top appeals body.

Many hope that the change of US administration will lead to reform of the organisation.

However, Washington under President Joe Biden has not yet publicly said who it is supporting as the next head although it is considering the question.

It also said that it is committed to "positive, constructive and active engagement" on reforming the body.

Okonjo-Iweala has previously stressed the need for the WTO to play a role in helping poorer countries with Covid-19 drugs and vaccines -- an issue on which members have failed to agree in ongoing negotiations.

The WTO could in theory call a meeting of its 164 members to confirm the next chief at short notice.

However, some delegates saw that as unlikely given that Biden's choice of trade representative, Katherine Tai, has not yet been sworn in. Nor has a Geneva-based deputy been selected.

The International Chamber of Commerce's John Denton urged WTO members to act quickly.

"With geopolitical tensions high, the global economy in recession and 'vaccine nationalism' threatening an equitable recovery, there is now no reason for further delay in filling this critical role with the well-qualified candidate at the ready," he said.

Former US government officials, diplomats and academics also wrote a letter to Biden on Jan. 19 asking him to support Okonjo-Iweala.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)

Ecuador's main left-wing candidate cannot vote in Sunday poll

Issued on: 06/02/2021 - 

Ecuadorean Presidential left-wing candidate Andres Arauz, will not be able to vote in Sunday's election as he is registered to vote in Mexico, where he was studying for a doctorate RODRIGO BUENDIA AFP

Quito (AFP)

The main left-wing candidate in Sunday's presidential election in Ecuador, the economist Andres Arauz, will not be able to vote in his own country because his residence is registered as being in Mexico, where he normally lives, the electoral authorities said Friday.

"He cannot (vote), he could only do it in Mexico" at the Ecuadoran consulate, Enrique Pita, vice president of the National Electoral Council (CNE) told AFP. Another CNE adviser, Jose Cabrera, confirmed that since Arauz "is registered in Mexico, he cannot vote in Ecuador."

Even though voting is compulsory in Ecuador for people aged between 18 and 65, it is optional for those living abroad, so he will not have committed any offence, the officials said.

Before presenting his candidacy in August, Arauz, an ex-minister under former president Rafael Correa (2007-2017), lived in Mexico where he was completing a doctorate at the National Autonomous University (Unam).

So in his case, the "vote is optional, he doesn't have to vote," Pita confirmed.

Alongside right-wing former banker Guillermo Lasso and left-wing indigenous leader Yaku Perez, Arauz is leading in the polls -- among a record number of 16 candidates -- to succeed President Lenin Moreno, who is not running for re-election and will complete his four-year term on May 24.

© 2021 AFP

US, EU hail Belarus democrats amid Russia protests

Issued on: 05/02/2021 - 

Blindfolded feminist activists hold photographs of women imprisoned after Belarus presidential elections in a January 2021 rally Stringer AFP/File

Washington (AFP)

The United States and the European Union on Friday hailed demonstrators in Belarus six months after disputed elections, in a message sure to irritate President Vladimir Putin of neighboring Russia.

US President Joe Biden's administration and the Europeans said they backed a "day of solidarity" called for Sunday by Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who believes she defeated President Alexander Lukashenko, an authoritarian ally of Putin, in August.

"We continue to be amazed by the exceptional strength, resilience and courage of the Belarusian people in the face of unyielding repression," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

"They continue to demand freedom and democracy. The world has been inspired by the people of Belarus, especially Belarusian women peacefully demonstrating for the right to have a voice in Belarus' future," he said.

Price said the United States backed a "peaceful and inclusive dialogue" in Belarus, where demonstrators have kept taking to the streets.

The European Union issued a similar statement, saying that "many thousands" have been detained in Belarus and pointing to "hundreds of documented cases of torture."

"The European Union continues to stand firmly with the people of Belarus," said a statement by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and enlargement coordinator Oliver Varhelyi, promising economic support for a democratic Belarus.

In a recent interview with AFP, Tikhanovskaya said that the "regime will collapse from within" and drew a parallel to protests in Russia led by Alexei Navalny, who was allegedly poisoned last year and was arrested on his return to Moscow last month.

Tikhanovskaya ran for president after her husband was imprisoned after trying to register to run against Lukashenko, who has ruled the country since 1994.

Tikhanovskaya, who fled to Lithuania, is calling for elections in which Lukashenko is not a candidate, a proposal rejected by the president.

Biden has vowed to robustly promote democracy and to take a tough line on Russia, drawing a contrast with his predecessor Donald Trump's warm words for Putin.

Biden moves to revoke terrorist designation for Yemen's Houthi rebels

Issued on: 06/02/2021 

Yemeni tribesmen attend a rally denouncing the US designation

 of the Houthi rebels as a terrorist group in the Houthi-held 

capital Sanaa on February 4, 2021 

Mohammed HUWAIS AFP/File

Text by: NEWS WIRES

The US has moved to delist Yemen's Houthi rebels as a terrorist organization, removing a block that humanitarian groups said jeopardized crucial aid as the country's warring sides cautiously welcomed a push for peace by President Joe Biden.

The grinding six-year war in Yemen has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, triggering what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian disaster.

A State Department spokesperson said Friday they had "formally notified Congress" of Secretary of State Antony Blinken's intent to revoke the terrorist designations.

The move, which will take effect shortly, comes a day after Biden announced an end to US support for the Saudi-led offensive operations in Yemen.

"This decision has nothing to do with our view of the Houthis and their reprehensible conduct, including attacks against civilians and the kidnapping of American citizens," the spokesperson said.

"Our action is due entirely to the humanitarian consequences of this last-minute designation from the prior administration," they said, adding the US remained committed to helping Saudi Arabia defend its territory against attacks by the rebels.

Blinken's predecessor Mike Pompeo announced the designation days before leaving office last month, pointing to the Houthis' links to Iran, an arch-enemy of Trump, and a deadly attack on the airport in Yemen's second city of Aden in December.

Aid groups say they have no choice but to deal with the Houthis, who are the de facto government in much of Yemen, and that the terrorist designation would put them at risk of prosecution in the United States.

According to the UN, more than three million people have been displaced and close to 80 percent of Yemen's population of 29 million people need of some form of aid for survival.

Cautious optimism

Biden on Thursday announced the withdrawal of US support for the Saudi-led offensive in his first major foreign policy speech since replacing Donald Trump.

Yemen's internationally recognised government, which is backed by a Saudi-led military coalition, welcomed his remarks and stressed the "importance of supporting diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis".

It hailed the appointment of Timothy Lenderking as US envoy, describing it as "another important step" taken by the US to "end the war caused by the Iran-backed Huthis".

The Huthi rebels also welcomed the approach of the new US administration.

"We are cautiously optimistic," Houthi official Hameed Assem told AFP on Friday.

But he also warned that "our missiles will not stop until there is a ceasefire... they are the ones who started the war, and they are the ones who should end it."

Saudi Arabia - which has led a military intervention against the Houthis since 2015 - reacted by reasserting its commitment to a political solution in Yemen.

The kingdom welcomed Biden's "commitment to cooperate with the kingdom to defend its sovereignty and counter threats against it," according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

But for Yemenis, talk of a solution is very far from their reality.

"The war won't end; no one wants it to end. This is just propaganda," said Huda Ibrahim, a 38-year-old housewife from the port city of Hodeida said.

"I'm not optimistic and I don't believe anything about ending the war. How will it end when clashes don't stop even for one night."

(AFP)

ICC paves way for war crimes probe in Palestinian territories

Issued on: 05/02/2021 - 

An elderly Palestinian man scuffles with Israeli security forces as he protests the removal by an army bulldozer of a temporary health unit in the village of al-Mufagara, near Yatta, south of the West Bank city of Hebron, in January HAZEM BADER AFP

The Hague (AFP)

The International Criminal Court ruled Friday that it had jurisdiction over the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, paving the way for the tribunal to open a war crimes investigation.

ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda had asked the court for its legal opinion on whether its reach extended to areas occupied by Israel, after announcing in December 2019 that she wanted to start a full probe.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the ICC as a "political body" while the United States said it had "serious concerns" over the decision. The Palestinians called it a "victory for justice".

The ICC said in a statement that judges had "decided, by majority, that the Court’s territorial jurisdiction in the Situation in Palestine... extends to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem."

Palestine is a state party to the court, having joined in 2015, but Israel is not a member.

The court added that its decision was not a ruling on Palestinian "statehood", but that it followed from Palestine's position as a state party, under the ICC's founding Rome Statute.

"The chamber is neither adjudicating a border dispute under international law nor prejudging the question of any future borders" it said.

- 'Political body' -

ICC prosecutor Bensouda called for the full investigation in December following a five-year preliminary probe.

Her office said it "welcomes this judicial clarity" and "will then decide its next step guided strictly by its independent and impartial mandate."

The administration of then-US President Donald Trump slapped sanctions on the prosecutor and another senior ICC official in September.

The United States, which is not a member of the ICC, inflicted the measures on the court after earlier visa bans on Bensouda and others failed to head off the court's war crimes probe into US military personnel in Afghanistan.

But the US has also cited the court's treatment of its ally Israel.

Israel's Netanyahu Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed Friday's decision.

"The tribunal has, once again, proved that it is a political body and not a judicial institution," Netanyahu said in a statement, adding the decision undermined the "right of democracies to defend themselves against terrorism".

An Israeli official said the decision "will not be helpful" as there is a "wind of change" in the region.

"It is a decision that is not good for the court, not good for Israel, not good for the region", the official said.

Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh on Friday called on the ICC to speed up legal proceedings over the 2014 conflict in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian prisoners and the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

"This decision (of the ICC) is a victory for justice and humanity, for the values of truth, fairness and freedom, and for the blood of the victims and their families," Shtayyeh said, according to the official Wafa news agency.

- 'Serious concern' -

The US State Department said Israel should not be bound by the court as it was not a member.

"We have serious concerns about the ICC's attempts to exercise jurisdiction over Israeli personnel. We have always taken the position that the court's jurisdiction should be reserved for countries that consent to it or are referred by the UN Security Council," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

Human Rights Watch however said the ruling was "pivotal", adding that it was "high time that Israeli and Palestinian perpetrators of the gravest abuses" should face justice.

"The ICC’s decision finally offers victims of serious crimes some real hope for justice after a half century of impunity," Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at HRW, said in a statement.

The ICC's Bensouda, who steps down in June, has urged the Biden administration to lift the sanctions against the court.

© 2021 AFP

PROMOTED

CULTURE
German LGBT+ actors come out to demand recognition

Under the #actout initiative, 185 German actors and actresses with diverse sexualities came out this week in a campaign calling for more visibility on the stage and screen.




Stars of German stage and screen call for greater diversity in film, TV and theater

The latest cover of Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, a weekly supplement to Germany's daily newspaper of the same name, is a tribute to the legendary 1971 Stern magazine cover on which 374 women, celebrities and non-celebrities proclaimed that they had had abortions.

Back then, the signatories were taking a stance against the controversial article 218 of the German Penal Code, which at the time still made abortion a punishable offense, almost without exception. The action not only caused an enormous stir nationwide — it ultimately triggered change.

The latest montage of public figures to come out en masse in the magazine was published on Friday under the headline "We are already here" and the hashtag #actout.

The 185 lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, non-binary and trans* actors are demanding more recognition in theater, film and television. With their joint public coming out and manifesto, they are standing up for more public visibility for diverse gender identities and sexual orientations on German stages and screens.

Watch video 03:10 LGBT asylum in Germany: Similar cases, different outcome
Incentive for change

In the group coming-out, six of the initiators speak about their experiences in the film, TV and theater industries. Many of their statements might not be surprising; yet they are no less shocking.

They speak about the few role models they had as young people, or how often they were asked during their careers to "play as if they were heterosexual." Agents advise actors not to make their sexual orientation public, or not to bring their respective partners along to red carpet events so they are still considered for straight roles.

Their experiences reinforce the ongoing difficulty for people in the spotlight to stand by their sexuality if it strays from the so-called mainstream.

Celebrating at Berlin's annual Gay Pride parade: Many Germans, however, have been pressured to repress their sexuality

More diverse cultural narratives

Diversity has long been a social reality in Germany, however this fact is still not reflected enough in the nation's cultural narratives and stories, reads the manifesto. "Our industry should stand for togetherness and reflect society in all of its diversity," it says.

Under similar pressure, cultural institutions in the US like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that oversees the Oscars has promised to promote greater diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity when honoring the film industry.

A number of high profile German cultural institutions have come out in support of the initiative, including the Berlinale.



The #actout statement outlines the opportunities for more diverse ensembles and narratives in the culture industries, for re-imagined camera angles for sex or kissing scenes, or woman being cast for male roles in period pieces — an echo of the colorblind casting that has brought more racial diversity to the Bridgerton streaming series, for example.

The manifesto ends with the words: "We are looking forward to all the new stories we’ll be able to tell and the characters we can portray. The world is changing and we are all playing a part in it."

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