Beleaguered Berlinale boss Tricia Tuttle is staying on as head of the Berlin Film Festival but will be required to submit to new conditions, including a “code of conduct” with an “antisemitism taboo,” according to reports in the German media.
Conservative German tabloid Bild, which has led the charge to get Tuttle fired, is reporting that the German Culture Ministry could not agree on terms for a separation deal with Tuttle, who has three years left on her five-year contract with the festival.
Instead, writes Bild, citing unnamed government sources, Tuttle will remain Berlinale director but has agreed to accept a new advisory board and a code of conduct that all festival participants will be required to sign off on. The code, according to Bild, will include “a taboo against antisemitism that applies to all participants.” The supervisory board of the Berlinale is expected to make a final decision today on Tuttle’s future.
Tuttle has been under fire since the Berlinale awards ceremony on Feb.21, when a number of filmmakers made pro-Palestinian statements from the stage. Syrian-Palestinian director Abdallah Al-Khatib, winner of the top prize in the Perspectives section for Chronicles From the Siege, used his speech to take aim at the German government, accusing them of “being partners in the genocide in Gaza by Israel.” In response, German Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider walked out of the ceremony.
Tuttle has also been criticized in the German right-wing media for a premiere photo taken with the Chronicles From the Siege crew on Feb. 15, which shows her standing next to film-makers wearing keffiyehs and holding Palestinian flags.
In an interview with German newspaper Rheinischen Post on Monday, German Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer used terms like “hate speech”, “activist attacks,” and “Israel hate” to describe events at the Berlinale this year, stressing the importance of a new code of conduct to prevent them in the future. The German government is the main financial backer of the Berlinale, responsible for around 40 percent of its budget.
None of this — Al-Khatib’s statements, the keffiyehs or the flags — is against the law in Germany. How a new Berlinale code of conduct will be made compatible with Germany’s free speech laws remains an open question. Bild reports that the German Culture Ministry also wants Tuttle to “attract more Hollywood [stars] to Berlin.” How enforcing political censorship will achieve that goal is also unclear.
Calls for reform of the Berlinale had come primarily from the ranks of the conservative CDU party, which heads Germany’s ruling coalition. Speaking to Bild last week, CDU parliamentarian Ellen Demuth, who sits on the parliamentary committee on culture and media, said “Germany’s most important film festival needs a fundamental overhaul” and that discussions “must ultimately lead to the replacement of Tricia Tuttle as director of the Berlinale.”
But Sven Lehmann, a member of the Green Party and chairman of the culture and media committee, said he was “absolutely delighted that Tricia Tuttle wants to stay” as head of the festival. “Especially in light of the campaign waged against her last week, this demonstrates her remarkable strength and deep commitment to the Berlinale and the art of film,” said Lehmann in a statement on his official website on Tuesday. “Minister of State for Culture Weimer has lost a great deal of trust through his actions in recent days. It is now up to him to restore this trust – both with Tricia Tuttle and the Berlinale team, and with the German and international cultural scene,” he continued. “I expect the Federal Government and the Berlinale to develop a viable plan for the future of the Berlinale, including how to deal with polarizing political statements. The Berlinale should remain a place of free culture and exchange, not a place of intimidation.”
In response to calls for her dismissal, hundreds of actors, directors, and film industry professionals, including Sean Baker, Tilda Swinton, Vicky Krieps, and Wim Wenders, have come out in support of Tuttle. On Tuesday, 32 global film festival bosses, including Cannes’ Thierry Frémaux, Sundance‘s Eugene Hernandez, and TIFF’s Cameron Bailey, published an open letter “in support of Tricia Tuttle’s wish to continue as Berlinale Festival Director.”
Contacted by The Hollywood Reporter, the Berlinale said in an email statement: “Yesterday’s press coverage in Bild presented circumstances and alleged decisions as established facts that were entirely new to us. For the time being, we will await the Supervisory Board’s conclusions and will then address them accordingly at a later stage.”