Indian author and activist Arundhati Roy has announced she will not attend the 76th Berlin International Film Festival. Her decision to withdraw from the event, better known as Berlinale, comes following jury comments at a press conference on the opening day of the event.
"We have to stay out of politics," jury president Wim Wenders said in response to a question about the German government's support of the war in Gaza from journalist Tilo Jung. Wenders added that films and filmmaking should be a "counter-weight" to politics.
"We have to do the work of people and not the work of politicians," Wenders said.
Polish film producer Ewa Puszczynska, another jury member, said it was "not fair" to ask the judges, as a body, about German government positions on the Gaza war.
Roy said she was "shocked and disgusted" by the jury's comments in a statement shared with Indian publication The Wire, explaining her decision to withdraw.
"To hear [the jury] say that art should not be political is jaw-dropping. It is a way of shutting down a conversation about a crime against humanity even as it unfolds before us in real time – when artists, writers and filmmakers should be doing everything in their power to stop it," Roy wrote.
"Let me say this clearly: 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. I am shocked and disgusted."
Author of the 1997 Booker Prize-winning novel The God of Small Things, Roy was due to appear at the festival following the selection of her 1989 film, In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones, in the Classics category.
"The Berlinale respects this decision. We regret that we will not welcome her as her presence would have enriched the festival discourse," festival's organisers said of Roy's decision to withdraw in a statement.
Considered more politically minded than its counterparts in Venice and Cannes, the festival has been repeatedly criticised by pro-Palestinian activists for not taking an overt stance on Gaza, in contrast to the war in Ukraine and the situation in Iran, where thousands of anti-government protesters have been reported killed by security forces.
Reuters contributed to this report
