The pushback from Berlinale jury head Wim Wenders when it came to answering questions about politics sparked no shortage of headlines and outrage on the opening day of this year’s festival.
It’s now led to one major withdrawal from Berlin, a typically highly political festival, with news that celebrated Indian author Arundhati Roy has pulled out.
Roy, who was due to present her 1989 campus comedy “In Which Annie Give It Those Ones” as part of the Classics section, has now said she will no longer be attending, citing the “unconscionable statements” made by members of jury when asked to comment about Gaza.
“We have to stay out of politics because if we make movies that are dedicatedly political, we enter the field of politics,” said Wenders at the press conference after fielding several questions about the current state of the world. “But we are the counterweight of politics, we are the opposite of politics. We have to do the work of people, not the work of politicians.”
Meanwhile, when the jury was asked about the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the support from the German government — which funds the festival — has given Israel, fellow jury member Ewa Puszczyńska also pushed back.
“There are many other wars where genocide is committed, and we do not talk about that. So this is a very complicated question and I think it’s a bit unfair asking us what do you think, how we support, not support, talking to our governments or not,” she said.
In Roy’s statement announcing her withdrawal — first given to Indian publication the Wire and verified by Variety — she said that to “hear them say that art should not be political is jaw-dropping.”
She added: “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.”
Variety has reached out to the Berlinale for comment.
See Arundhati Roy’s full statement below:
‘In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones,’ a whimsical film that I wrote 38 years ago, was selected to be screened under the Classics section at the Berlinale 2026. There was something sweet and wonderful about this for me.
Although I have been profoundly disturbed by the positions taken by the German government and various German cultural institutions on Palestine, I have always received political solidarity when I have spoken to German audiences about my views on the genocide in Gaza. This is what made it possible for me to think of attending the screening of Annie at the Berlinale.
This morning, like millions of people across the world, I heard the unconscionable statements made by members of the jury of the Berlin film festival when they were asked to comment about the genocide in Gaza. To hear them 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 film makers should be doing everything in their power to stop it.
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.
With deep regret, I must say that I will not be attending the Berlinale.
Arundhati Roy
