ITS NOT A FILM RESTIVAL WITHOUT CONTROVERSY
Berlinale Jury President Todd Haynes on Trump’s return: ‘We’re in a particular crisis right now’
The 75th edition of the Berlinale officially kicks off tonight. Prior to the opening film, the jury led by US filmmaker Todd Haynes spoke to the press about the importance of festivals like the Berlinale, as well as the threats posed by Trump and the looming elections in Germany.
The 75th Berlinale’s International Jury convened this morning to talk about their new roles and inevitably, the main topic of conversation gravitated towards politics.
No surprises there, as the Berlin Film Festival prides itself on being a political festival, and considering the looming elections in Germany and the top topic issue of Trump’s return to the White House and how it may affect the cultural landscape of the US, the jury were asked a series of questions about the current political climate.
“We’re in a state of particular crisis right now in the US but also globally,” said director, screenwriter and producer Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven, Carol, May December), who heads this year’s jury. “Everyone I know in the US and friends abroad are witnessing this barrage of actions in the first three weeks of the Trump administration with tremendous concern and shock.”
He continued: “I think that’s been part of the strategy - to create a sense of destabilization and shock among the people. How we proceed to coalescing different forms of resistance are still in the works and still being figured out among Democrats.”
“I have no doubt that there will be many people who did in fact vote for this President who will be quickly disillusioned by the promises he made about economic stability in the US,” added the celebrated director.
Regarding the impact the Trump presidency will have on culture and the filmmaking community, Haynes said: “How the return of the Trump presidency will affect filmmaking is a real question hanging over all American filmmakers. I think it’s a question that extends beyond the world of filmmaking. How do you maintain and protect your own integrity and point of view and speak out to the issues around us? That remains to be seen.”
Haynes did offer a solution, however: “It’s about the financiers who are willing to take risk and willing to support strong voices.”
Haynes was joined by fellow jury members German costume designer Bina Daigeler (The Room Next Door, Tár), Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, Argentinian director Rodrigo Moreno (The Delinquents), American film critic and author Amy Nicholson, and German director Maria Schrader (I’m Your Man, She Said).
Schrader was asked about the German national elections coming up and the far-right gaining more ground.
“I am affected by this like everyone else,” she said. “It’s hard for an artist, specifically a filmmaker, to not react and do something. It affects my work and elevates the stakes for the stories that need to be told right now.”
Schrader also stressed the fact that festivals like the Berlinale are spaces for questions to be asked, even if “we don’t need to come up with blunt answers.”
“The more binary and extreme our thinking and discussion becomes, the more there is escalation,” said Schrader.
Her calls to celebrate the imaginary world and championing people coming to develop and see differences through cinema were echoed by Haynes, who stated that the Berlinale has “always had a strength of conviction.”
On a lighter note, new festival head Tricia Tuttle ended the press conference by sharing that her first word she said in German was “gemütlich”, meaning cheerful and referring to a warm, cosy atmosphere.
She said that this sense of warmth is felt in the inclusivity of the festival, which is not a bubble.
“This is not a bubble – we invite the outside world. Conversations are complex and we shouldn’t be scared of conversations and the fact that the world is a troubled place.”
The 75th edition of the Berlinale officially opens tonight with the premiere of Tom Tykwer’s new film, Das Licht (The Light). Stay tuned to Euronews Culture for our review of this year’s opening film.
The Berlinale takes place from 13-23 February. The winners will be announced at the Berlinale Palast on 22 February.
Berlinale 2025: Tilda Swinton on attending the festival despite boycott calls over Gaza
Celebrated actress Tilda Swinton attends the Berlin Film Festival and accepts her Honorary Golden Bear. She explains why she decided to come, despite calls for boycott over Gaza and freedom of expression.
Any time with Tilda Swinton is precious and with her, a press conference very easily turns into something more. A masterclass. An articulate conversation. A thoughtful meditation.
The Academy Award-winning actress, who is in Berlin to accept the Honorary Golden Bear, has been a Berlinale regular for decades now, having starred in close to 30 films in the festival’s selection. These include Caravaggio, the first film she made with Derek Jarman.
During her press conference, she spoke about how she started working in a collective with Jarman and shared how her “drug of choice” was community and working collectively. She added that Jarman was a vital figure for her and her career, sharing two pieces of advice that he gave her: “Hold your own light” and “be prepared not to sleep.”
Swinton stated that she was not shooting a film for the rest of the year (“Filmmaking is a merciless mistress and I’ve been under the lash for a while. I need a break so I’m going to have one!”) and also went on to echo her Golden Bear acceptance speech, in which she movingly and passionately called out the “state-perpetrated and internationally-enabled mass murder is currently actively terrorizing more than one part of our world.”
“The inhumane is being perpetrated on our watch. I’m here to name it without hesitation or doubt in my mind and to lend my unwavering solidarity to all those who recognize the unacceptable complacency of our greed-addicted governments who make nice with planet-wreckers and war criminals, wherever they come from.”
Today, she shared her motivations for attending this year’s Berlinale calls for a boycott by BDS over the war in Gaza, saying it was “more useful to our causes” for her to show up.
“I’m a great admirer of and have a great deal of respect for BDS and I think about it a lot,” said Swinton, who has been a long time advocate for Palestinians. “I am here today and yesterday and tomorrow and the next day because I decided to come, I decided it was more important for me to come. I was given, thanks to the festival, a platform which I decided in a personal moment was potentially more useful to all our causes than me not turning up.”
“It was a personal judgment call, that I take full responsibility for,” she added.
Swinton went on to say that she has “enormous respect and understanding for the need for people to find ways of feeling powerful.”
“Because what we’re all up against is this feeling of powerlessness and this is the most difficult thing we’re all having to deal with right now. So any powerful action, gesture we can make feels like a good option. I understand absolutely that boycotting can feel and very often is the most powerful thing we can do.”
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) movement has called for the boycott of this year’s Berlinale, stating that “the Berlin International Film Festival is complicit in the German government’s partnership in Israel’s genocide in Gaza and fails to protect filmmakers standing in solidarity with Palestinians.”
“Echoing the call and demands of international film workers and Berlin-based activists, PACBI – a founding member of the BDS National Committee, the largest Palestinian coalition leading the global BDS movement – urges all participants, including filmmakers, jury members, industry members and all others to withdraw from Berlinale to avoid artwashing the German state’s partnership in Israel’s genocide.”
Their statement went on: “Last year, the German political and media establishment viciously attacked filmmakers participating in Berlinale who called for ceasefire in Gaza, and who criticised Israel’s regime of military occupation, apartheid and settler-colonialism against the Palestinian people. The German federal culture minister Claudia Roth, Berlin’s mayor Kai Wegner and cultural senator Joe Chialo, and even the German head of state Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned filmmakers who refused to remain silent on Israel’s genocidal assault on besieged Gaza, with a government spokesperson stating that Scholz agrees it "cannot be allowed to stand."”
You can read the full boycott statement here.
The Berlinale has clarified its position on freedom of expression in a FAQ post on dialogue and exchange, in which organizers addressed the situation: “All of our guests have a right to free speech within the bounds of the law. We also stand by the right of our filmmakers to talk about the impulses behind their work and their experiences of the world. The Berlinale welcomes different points of view, even if this creates tension or controversy. At the same time, we aim to create an environment in which we can listen and learn from each other, and we ask for respectful dialogue and a certain cultural sensitivity. We also ask guests to understand that when they speak out as is protected under free speech, people may disagree. This is also free speech.”
The Berlin Film Festival takes place until 23 February.
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