Berlinale Crisis: International Festival Directors Including Cannes Head Thierry Frémaux Publish Statement In Support Of Tricia Tuttle

A various group of movie pageant administrators, together with longtime Cannes head Thierry Frémaux, has printed a letter in assist of Berlinale chief Tricia Tuttle following reviews within the German press that her job was underneath risk. Learn the letter in full beneath.

Signatories of the observe embody Frémaux, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey, Rotterdam head Vanja Kaludjercic, San Sebastian director José Luis Rebordinos, and Locarno director Giona A. Nazzaro.

“As movie pageant administrators and leaders, we stand in assist of Tricia Tuttle’s want to proceed as Berlinale Pageant Director, in full belief and with institutional independence,” the letter begins.

The observe continues to state that of their position as “cultural custodians,” movie festivals should “create and defend the area for filmmakers, artists, professionals and audiences to return collectively.”

“This consists of individuals who carry with them not solely a shared love of cinema, but additionally an enormous number of lived experiences and viewpoints. That is what offers our movie festivals their vitality, relevance, and worth, and it’s what pageant ‘spirit’ is constituted of,” the letter reads.

“We should additionally navigate – with care – the truth that ‘everybody’ can embody folks with political and private views that don’t at all times align, with one another, or with socially accepted or politically mandated positions. And whereas movie festivals which are long-lived and well-attended could look like indestructible assembly locations, these areas are sometimes fragile, hard-won, and complicated to protect.”

The pageant administrators conclude by asking their varied stakeholders, together with “audiences, creators, pageant groups, private and non-private companions, trade, media, fellow establishments,” to “present one another grace, respect and solidarity as communities and networks related by means of the love of movie, or we threat dropping these areas fully.”

“It’s so a lot simpler to destroy than it’s to construct,” the letter ends.

This open letter follows the week-long fallout following a report within the German tabloid Bild that Tuttle’s job was underneath risk. Bild stated the German Tradition Minister was contemplating Tuttle’s job partly due to a sequence of pro-Palestinian speeches on the pageant’s closing ceremony.

There was a groundswell of assist for Tuttle from cinema professionals in Germany, Europe, and past. An open letter circulated throughout the trade and first reported on by us reached over 2,500 signatories, together with Sean Baker, Kleber Mendonça Filho, and Nancy Spielberg.

Native German media reviews that Tuttle will meet with the German Tradition Minister tomorrow.

Learn the open letter from the pageant administrators in full beneath.

As movie pageant administrators and leaders, we stand in assist of Tricia Tuttle’s want to proceed as Berlinale Pageant Director, in full belief and with institutional independence.

Within the debates which have surrounded the 2026 Berlinale and different cultural and creative occasions in previous months, we recognise the mounting pressures on movie festivals all over the place to navigate risky instances whereas sustaining a secure area for the trade of cinema, and of concepts.

A core facet of our position as cultural custodians is to create and defend the area for filmmakers, artists, professionals and audiences to return collectively. This consists of individuals who carry with them not solely a shared love of cinema, but additionally an enormous number of lived experiences and viewpoints. That is what offers our movie festivals their vitality, relevance and worth, and it’s what pageant ‘spirit’ is constituted of.

We should additionally navigate – with care – the truth that ‘everybody’ can embody folks with political and private views that don’t at all times align, with one another, or with socially accepted or politically mandated positions. And whereas movie festivals which are long-lived, and well-attended, could look like indestructible assembly locations, these areas are sometimes fragile, hard-won and complicated to protect.

Movie festivals as we all know, and wish them, have gotten more and more difficult to maintain in a local weather the place the appreciation of nuance is collapsing. Supporting real freedom of expression, together with the liberty to articulate imperfect or unpopular opinions, has by no means been extra essential. We have to preserve areas the place discomfort is embraced, the place debates will be expansive, the place new concepts can propagate and the place sudden – and generally conflicting – views are made seen.

We’d like all our stakeholders – audiences, creators, pageant groups, private and non-private companions, trade, media, fellow establishments – to point out one another grace, respect and solidarity as communities and networks related by means of the love of movie, or we threat dropping these areas fully. It’s so a lot simpler to destroy than it’s to construct.

Kristy Matheson, Creative Director, BFI London Movie Pageant

Jung Hanseok, Pageant Director, Busan Worldwide Movie Pageant

Ellen Y. D. Kim, Director, Asian Contents & Movie Market

Karen Park, Program Director, Busan Worldwide Movie FestivalThierry Frémaux, Normal Delegate, Cannes Movie FestivalChristian Jeune, Director of Movies Division – Deputy Normal Delegate, Cannes Movie Pageant

Amr Mansi, Govt Director & Co-Founder, El Gouna Movie Pageant

Ilda Santiago, Govt Director, Pageant do Rio

Pia Lundberg, Creative Director, Göteborg Movie Pageant

Mirja Wester, VD/CEO, Göteborg Movie Pageant

Vanja Kaludjercic, Pageant Director, Worldwide Movie Pageant RotterdamClare Stewart, Managing Director, Worldwide Movie Pageant Rotterdam

Karel Och, Creative Director, Karlovy Range Worldwide Movie Pageant

Kryštof Mucha, Govt Director, Karlovy Range Worldwide Movie Pageant

Giona A. Nazzaro, Creative Director, Locarno Movie Pageant

Damien Hodgkinson, CEO, Melbourne Worldwide Movie Pageant

Al Cossar, Creative Director, Melbourne Worldwide Movie Pageant

Daniela Michel, Founding Director, Morelia Movie FestivalRoman Gutek, Head of New Horizons Affiliation

Dorota Lech, Pageant Director, New Horizons Worldwide Movie Pageant