When Tricia Tuttle opens her first edition of the Berlin International Film Festival in February, she will need to tread carefully.
The Berlinale, as the festival is known here, faces financial hurdles and longstanding criticism over its lack of glamour compared with its two main European competitors, Cannes and Venice. But in her inaugural year, the greatest challenge for the festival’s new American-born director is likely to be political.
The previous edition of the Berlinale, which is largely publicly funded, became the focal point of a debate about free speech in Germany after speakers at its awards gala criticized Israel and its conduct in the war in Gaza. Lawmakers accused the event of fostering antisemitism and the culture ministry opened an investigation. Kai Wegner, Berlin’s mayor, said he expected Tuttle to “ensure such incidents do not happen again.”
So Tuttle, 54, must walk a tightrope. She needs to reinvigorate the festival and maintain its longstanding commitment to open political debate, while satisfying politicians’ demands. The Berlinale looks set to be a bellwether for whether German cultural events can maintain international relevance amid growing concern about a clampdown on free speech in the arts.
In an interview in her offices, Tuttle was measured as she discussed the task ahead.
Since she began living in Berlin earlier this year, she said, she had “realized there is a very different perception inside and outside of Germany about what constitutes antisemitism.” Local views had been shaped by the country’s responsibility for the Holocaust, she said, but there was also “a plurality of perspectives on what antisemitism is, and we need to consider all of those.”
Some filmmakers had voiced concerns that they might face problems because of a recent resolution passed by Germany’s Parliament that condemns boycotts of Israel and calls on regional and local governments not to fund projects with “antisemitic content or goals.” In recent years, artists and writers who supported a boycott, or even criticized Israel publicly, have seen events canceled and prizes withdrawn.
Tuttle said she had reassured those filmmakers that it was “down to each institution to make independent decisions,” and that the resolution does not include legally binding rules for arts organizations. But, she added, “I understand the hope that people will be sensitive about the German cultural context when they come into it.”
Tuttle has already announced some modest changes to the festival program, eliminating a sidebar called Encounters, focused on experimental works, and adding one called Perspectives for debut films.
As in previous editions, there would be a balance of art-house and more mainstream fare, she said. The main competition slate will be released in mid-January, but the festival has already announced its opening film: “The Light” by the German director Tom Tykwer, who helmed “Run Lola Run” and cocreated the TV series “Babylon Berlin.” This year’s jury will be headed by the American director Todd Haynes.
Tuttle comes to Berlin after leading B.F.I. Flare, a London festival of L.G.B.T. movies, and the London Film Festival, where she was praised for nearly doubling the event’s attendance. She said the experience of balancing those festivals’ creative and financial demands had prepared her for leading the much bigger Berlinale, which is the largest film festival in the world by audience.
Like many similar events, it faces rising costs and stiff financial headwinds. Berlin’s government announced that it would slash one million euros from its support for the festival as part of a €130 million cut for the arts, and the Berlinale also parted ways with Uber, one of its major sponsors, in what Tuttle described as a mutual decision. She said those losses would not lead to significant cutbacks. “It’s not a gap that makes me panic,” she said. “It’s just a gap.” (On Friday, the festival announced new sponsorship deals with Cupra, a Barcelona-based carmaker, and Staropramen, the Czech beer.)
But Tuttle said she was still “working on” learning German and unaccustomed to the level of coordination with political institutions involved in running the Berlinale. Approximately 40 percent of the festival’s budget comes from the German federal government and Berlin’s State Senate, giving them some sway.
The political outrage at the last festival came just a few months after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. There was blowback when several award winners, including the Israeli and Palestinian co-directors of “No Other Land,” a documentary about the conflict between Israeli settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank, criticized Israel in their speeches.
One of the filmmakers, Basel Adra, who is Palestinian, called for German lawmakers to “stop sending weapons to Israel”; the other, Yuval Abraham, who is Israeli, decried “a situation of apartheid” due to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
Claudia Roth, Germany’s culture minister, responded that the speeches were “characterized by a deep hatred of Israel.” After an inquiry, a supervisory board led by Roth reaffirmed its support for freedom of speech at the festival but called for Tuttle to “actively intervene” to “remind people of the fate of Hamas’ hostages.”
When “No Other Land” came out in German theaters last month, it made headlines again when a movie listing website run by the city of Berlin described the film as having “antisemitic tendencies.” In response, Abraham posted on Instagram that he feels “unsafe and unwelcome in Berlin.” (The website altered its description and apologized.)
Tuttle has tried to navigate between supporting filmmakers and satisfying the position of the festival’s political patrons. After the website controversy, she issued a statement saying that those accusing Abraham and Adra of antisemitism had created “danger” for them. In the interview, she specified that she was not referring to politicians’ comments after the gala but to other incidents that Abraham had told her about privately.
Tuttle was evasive about another delicate political issue: whether she would invite members of the far-right party Alternative for Germany to the festival’s opening gala. Last year, the festival spurred an uproar when it invited lawmakers from the party and then disinvited them after an outcry. “The decision has been made, but we’re not going to be talking about it publicly,” Tuttle said.
To some observers, the political maneuvering has been an unwelcome distraction from the Berlinale’s goal of showcasing great filmmaking. Susan Vahabzadeh, a film critic at the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and a longtime observer of the Berlinale, said that above all else, she hoped Tuttle would improve the competition lineup and do more to “elevate films that can find an audience.”
“I’m not sure film-related events are necessarily the best stage to present everybody’s political opinion,” she said. “I think it would be a good thing for festivals to focus on the films.”
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