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Festival boss Rissenbeek and Chatrian at the press conference for the Berlinale 2024
Photo: Liesa Johannssen / REUTERS
The invitation of an AfD politician to the opening of the Berlinale has provoked harsh criticism from the industry. More than 200 people, mostly filmmakers, expressed their “outrage” about the invitations in an open letter and accused the festival management of counteracting previous statements against right-wing populism. The letter, which the US magazine “Deadline” reported on, is no longer available.
The festival management has now commented on the allegations and spoken out clearly against right-wing extremism. Members of the AfD represent deeply anti-democratic positions that contradict the values of the Berlinale and its employees, according to a statement published in English on the Berlinale's Instagram account. It is marked with the name of director Mariette Rissenbeek.
Both the federal cultural commissioner, Claudia Roth, and the Berlin Senate received invitation contingents for the opening ceremony, the statement continues. These would be awarded to the elected representatives from all parties in the Bundestag and the Berlin House of Representatives.
AfD members were elected to the Bundestag and the House of Representatives and are therefore also represented in political cultural committees and other committees. “That is a fact and we have to accept it as such,” it said. This is the background to the invitations for the AfD politicians - an indication that the two were not personally invited.
Specifically, the two invitees are Kristin Brinker and Ronald Brille. Brinker is the state and parliamentary group leader of the AfD in Berlin and was recently noticed because of her participation in a meeting with right-wing extremists in the apartment of the former finance senator Peter Kurth. She said afterwards that she soon left the celebration because she was shocked by the audience. A party colleague promptly objected. He spoke to Brinker there at a “very late hour.” Glasses is deputy leader of the Berlin AfD.
“We are committed to opposing any form of exclusion and discrimination and consistently stand up for the values of a cosmopolitan and liberal democracy,” writes Berlinale boss Rissenbeek. "People - including elected officials - who act contrary to these fundamental values are not welcome at the Berlinale." This will be expressed clearly and emphatically in personal letters to AfD representatives and on other occasions.
In the open letter, the filmmakers accused the Berlinale of inconsistency: the invitations were "another example of the hostile and hypocritical environment to which art and culture are exposed in Berlin and Germany." One does not believe that the Berlinale opening can be viewed as a safe place for Jews, women, the disabled, Jehovah's Witnesses, Sinti and Roma as well as other groups who, because of their sexual identity or orientation, their skin color or origin, are "affected by another right-wing extremist, "We were persecuted and murdered by the national conservative movement in Germany."
In its reaction, the Berlinale said it stood “for basic democratic values and against right-wing extremism” and supported all demonstrations and other initiatives against undemocratic currents. "We clearly reject right-wing extremist or right-wing populist ideas and observe with concern that anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim sentiment, hate speech and other anti-democratic attitudes are on the rise in Germany."
Along with Cannes and Venice, the Berlinale is one of the world's largest film festivals. The next edition is scheduled for February 15th to 25th.
fdi/dpa