Enlarge image
Papis Loveday and Pheline Roggan with clear messages on the red carpet
Photo: John Macdougall / AFP
Numerous actors and actresses took a stand against right-wing extremism at the grand opening gala of the 74th Berlinale. At a protest organized by the film festival itself, filmmakers such as Jella Haase and Katja Riemann shouted “Defend Democracy”. They held cell phone lights in the air and the red carpet became quiet during the event.
»By rejecting the AfD, the Berlinale has clearly positioned itself against right-wing extremism in Germany. On the opening evening, the Berlinale invites a group of filmmakers to the red carpet to set an example for democracy, diversity and peaceful coexistence," said a statement from the film festival. The background to the protests was a debate about the invitation and disinvitation of several AfD politicians to the opening gala. Several people wore buttons on the carpet with the inscription “Berlinale against right-wing extremism.”
Glitter chain against the AfD
The actress Pheline Roggan (“Jerks”) wore a glittery necklace with the inscription “Fck AfD”, model and entrepreneur Papis Loveday held a sign with the inscription “No Racism! No AfD!”
When asked why it was important to her to set an example for democracy, Haase said: "Because it shocks me with what indifference, with what normality, people almost go to the polls and put their cross on parties that simply... clearly and obviously make a name for themselves with right-wing radical ideas.
Actress Emilia Schüle said she felt better that there were no AfD representatives present. The Berlinale is a political festival. The Oscar-nominated director Wim Wenders (“Perfect Days”) saw it similarly and praised the film festival for it: “The Berlinale has traditionally always been the most political of the big festivals, it doesn’t stay out of it now and it won’t in the future either,” said the 78-year-old. »I like the Berlinale because she always opens her mouth and says something.«
According to Correctiv's research into a meeting of radical right-wingers in November in Potsdam, in which AfD politicians as well as individual members of the CDU and the very conservative "Values Union" also took part, and the subsequent large Germany-wide demos against right-wing extremism and the AfD, the Debate is getting a lot of attention right now. Representatives of the party were originally invited to the opening, as usual, and had announced that they would come. After the unloading, a few people on the edge of the carpet held up posters with the inscription “Berlinale – Discrimination is the program”.
There were also other political actions on the carpet. Several people held up signs in memory of the victims of the racist attack in Hanau in 2020, the anniversary of which was on February 19th.
Many stars came to the opening on Thursday evening at the Berlinale Palast on Potsdamer Platz. The German celebrities who walked on the carpet included Veronica Ferres, Jessica Schwarz, Heike Makatsch, Iris Berben, Jürgen Vogel, Lars Eidinger and Toni Garrn.
czl/dpa