UPDATED with release of full conference stream: The live feed for the opening jury press conference of the Berlin Film Festival went down on Thursday as a journalist in the room asked a contentious question on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Questioned by Deadline on whether the broadcast of the question had been censored, a spokesperson said the cut in the broadcast had been due to technical issues, and that the entire press conference would be posted on its website, which has happened since.
Jury president Wim Wenders was joined onstage by jury members Nepalese director Min Bahadur Bham, Korean actor Bae Doona, Indian archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, U.S. director Reinaldo Marcus Green, Japanese actor-director Hikari and Polish producer Ewa Puszczyńska.
The group was given a fairly easy ride at the beginning of the press conference kicking off the Berlinale’s 76th edition, with festival director Tricia Tuttle getting the ball rolling with a question on what “excited them about film.”
The atmosphere in the room tensed, however, when a German journalist asked a question implying the Berlinale had shown support for people in Iran and Ukraine, “but never for Palestine” and the implications for the festival given it was funded by a German government he said had supported Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
He framed the question in response to an earlier comment by Puszczyńska on how cinema can change the world.
“My question is, in light of the German government’s support of the genocide in Gaza and its role as the main funder of the Berlinale do you as a member of the jury –” he said. The feed went down, cutting the live broadcast of the whole question, which was, “Do you as a member of the jury support this selective treatment of human rights?”
The feed remained offline for the entirety of the answers given by Puszczyńska and Wenders.
In response to a question sent by Deadline when the conference went offline on whether the segment had been censored, the festival replied: “We are having technical problems with the signal. No censorship. We will have the recording of the whole press conference online later today.”
Back in the room, Tuttle, Puszczyńska and Wenders pushed back against the question.
Tuttle suggested that the jury was at the press conference to talk rather about films, before Puszczyńska waded in nonetheless.
“Asking us this question is a little bit unfair… we use the word ‘change the world’ but we are trying to talk to people, every single viewer, and to make them think, but we cannot be responsible for what their decision would be to support Israel … to support Palestine,” she said.
“We can talk about Senegal and all the other wars, you know, you just pointed [to] the most, the biggest, but there are many other wars where genocide is committed and we do not talk about that. So this is very complicated questions … And I think, as I said, it’s a bit unfair asking us what we think, how we support, or not support, or are talking to our governments or not.”
“I’m speaking for myself I go to elections. I go, I vote using my right as a citizen of Poland, as a citizen of Europe, of the world. I go to marches, I support causes which I think I should support. But all of us here may have other things and take other decisions. So I think asking us these questions and expecting the general kind of answer is not fair.”
Wenders also attempted to shut down the question, saying: “We cannot really enter the field of politics. We have to stay out of politics because if we made movies that are dedicatedly political, we enter the field of politics … We are the counterweight of politics, the opposite of politics, we have to do the work of people — not the work of politicians.”
The Berlinale has been caught repeatedly in the cross-hairs of the fierce global debate around the Israel-Gaza War, sparked by the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks on southern Israel, which killed 1,200 and resulted in the taking of 251 hostages.
The subsequent Israeli military campaign razed Gaza to the ground, killed at least 73,600 and has left 1.5 million people, three-quarters of its population. living in tents. Israel has said accusations that its actions are tantamount to genocide are “baseless” because the country is not acting with “intent.”
In 2024, there were calls for a boycott of the Berlinale over its lack of a public denouncement of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, and many Arab filmmakers avoided submitting their films.
The situation exploded when Palestinian Israeli production No Other Land, documenting settler violence in the West Bank, won the 2024 Berlinale Documentary Award and Israeli co-director Yuval Abraham accused his country of apartheid in his acceptance speech.
Tuttle, who took up the director’s baton for the 2025 edition, has worked hard to calm the waters and ensure that the festival is an open, safe and respectful place for all filmmakers and views.
In 2025, she spearheaded the publication of a Q&A on the festival website laying out the festivals position on freedom of speech, freedom of expression and antisemitism.
A few days later, however, Hong Kong filmmaker Jun Li was arrested over a pro-Palestinian speech he made at a screening of his film Queerpanorama, which prompted a police investigation and calls from one prominent politician for the festival to be defunded.
This year, the mood around the conflict felt more muted going into the festival but following Thursday’s opening conference question, it is clear there are still strong feelings on all sides.
Watch the full Berlinale opening press conference below.
