The Berlinale continues to be a hostile environment for Palestinian filmmakers and those who stand in solidarity against the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
Last month the Berlin Film Festival launched its submission process for the 2027 edition. In the context of an ongoing, widespread and multi-year refusal to participate in the Berlinale by film workers of conscience, Film Workers for Palestine cannot recommend that filmmakers submit their films or otherwise participate in a festival that has engaged in the types of anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism and censorship demonstrated in recent years.
As the Palestine Film Institute has said, “we are appalled by Berlinale’s institutional silence on the genocide of Palestinians, and its unwillingness to defend the freedoms of speech and expression of filmmakers.
”When Arundhati Roy withdrew her participation in the 2026 festival, her statement was clear: “What has happened in Gaza, what continues to happen, is a genocide of the Palestinian people by the State of Israel. It is supported and funded by the governments of the United States and Germany, as well as several other countries in Europe, which makes them complicit in the crime. If the greatest film makers and artists of our time cannot stand up and say so, they should know that history will judge them.”
The Berlinale as an institution has repeatedly failed to publicly defend the filmmakers and film workers it depends on to fill its program:
When one Palestinian filmmaker used his 2026 Berlinale award ceremony speech to accurately describe Germany as “partners in the genocide in Gaza by Israel,” the backlash was swift and aggressive, with threats and defamatory attacks by some of the country’s most senior government ministers. After the similar treatment of No Other Land directors Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham following their Berlinale 2024 award speech, as well as a police investigation of Hong Kong filmmaker Jun Li following a statement he read at the festival in 2025, this marked the third year in a row that Berlinale filmmakers faced these type of public attacks for speaking the truth without a meaningful public defence from the festival.
The festival’s official responses were often deeply troubling. In 2024, the festival labeled speeches by Adra, Abraham and other filmmakers as “too one-sided”, “inappropriate” and in no way reflecting the festival’s position. In 2025, the festival falsely implied to the press that the speech read by Jun Li was discriminatory and harmful.
As one filmmaker who made a statement at their 2025 Berlinale screening later told FWP: “There was a feeling of paranoia in the air, of not being protected and of being persecuted, which I had never felt before at a film festival.”
Given this troubling history, what assurances can the festival offer this year that it will publicly defend filmmakers who want to use their platform to speak out against atrocities?
The German government, a key funder of the Berlinale, has proposed a new code of conduct for participating filmmakers.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, in March 2026 the German newspaper Bild reported that in response to pro-Palestinian speech of various filmmakers, the German government had demanded that festival director Tricia Tuttle “accept a new advisory board and a code of conduct that all festival participants will be required to sign off on.” It is not currently known if a new code of conduct is in place, or if any such code would merely be a formalisation of existing, unwritten policy.
Can the festival assure filmmakers and film workers that they won’t be required to follow a new code of conduct limiting pro-Palestinian speech?Will participating filmmakers and film workers be investigated by the German Secret Service?
In April 2026, the European Legal Support Center reported that the German government is using “an increasingly bold deployment of the secret service, against civil society and political activities,” with the Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer “directing the German secret service to covertly examine applicants before granting cultural funding.” Given that this same minister described one Palestinian filmmaker’s 2026 Berlinale award ceremony speech as “malicious and poison,” we are forced to consider whether the Culture minister also plans to subject filmmakers and film workers attending the festival to the scrutiny of the Secret Service.
Can the festival offer assurance that it will not cooperate with, and that it will protect filmmakers from, these kinds of political background checks that have become commonplace in Germany?
Film Workers for Palestine calls for increased pressure on Berlinale, including refusals, until the festival meets the long-stated demands of its community.
We call on the Berlinale to publish a statement that:
- Affirms the Palestinian right to life, dignity, and freedom;
- Condemns the ongoing Israeli genocide of Palestinians; and
- Commits to uphold the right of artists to speak without constraint in support of Palestinians. This must include a commitment to publicly defend filmmakers and film workers from censorship and political attacks, to end cooperation with German police in criminal investigations of political speech, and to refuse to cooperate with background checks on film workers.
To focus on “promoting dialogue” alone is not nearly enough during a time of rising fascism, increased repression and real threats. Our cultural institutions must commit to protecting artistic freedom, to maintaining institutional independence, and to the ethical obligation to do no harm to oppressed peoples.
Just as the festival has made clear statements in the past about atrocities carried out against people in Iran and Ukraine, the Berlinale must fulfil its moral duty and clearly state its opposition to Israel’s genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Palestinians, and completely end its involvement in shielding Israel from criticism and calls for accountability.
It is the undeniable duty of film workers to make sure we are not complicit–through our works or our professional relationships–in mass atrocities and crimes against humanity. This is why, in September 2025, more than 5,500 film workers including leading Hollywood and international figures, announced their refusal to work with complicit Israeli film companies and institutions.
We must continue to insist on these principles even when it’s inconvenient or disruptive, and also when it only affects the most marginalized and the least famous of our colleagues. What we are asking for is the least the Berlinale can–and should–do.
For more information on the recent history of events at the Berlinale–including a major silent boycott in 2025, Arundhati Roy’s withdrawal from the festival, and the open letter signed by more than 120 prominent Berlinale alumni in 2026–please see the Film Workers for Palestine website, which also includes links to
