{"id":12150,"date":"2026-02-14T03:54:04","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T03:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=12150"},"modified":"2026-02-14T03:54:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T03:54:04","slug":"arundhati-roy-shocked-by-jurys-gaza-remarks-quits-berlin-film-festival-israel-palestine-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=12150","title":{"rendered":"Arundhati Roy \u2018shocked\u2019 by jury\u2019s Gaza remarks, quits Berlin film festival | Israel-Palestine conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>Jury chair Wim Wenders said filmmakers \u2018have to stay out of politics\u2019 when asked about German support for Israel\u2019s genocidal war in Gaza.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><button class=\"article-listen-container\" aria-labelledby=\"listen-text listen-duration\" data-testid=\"listen-to-article-button\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"article-listen-container__text\" data-testid=\"listen-to-article-text\">Listen to this article<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u00a0|\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"article-listen-container__duration\">3 mins<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/button><button tabindex=\"0\" class=\"tooltip-accessible_trigger\"><svg class=\"icon icon--info icon--main-grey-dark icon--16 listen-to-article-tooltip__icon\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\"><title>info<\/title><path class=\"icon-main-color\" d=\"M12 0a12 12 0 1 0 0 24 12 12 0 0 0 0-24Zm-.226 3.225a2.039 2.039 0 0 1 2.155 1.924v.193a1.998 1.998 0 0 1-2.155 2.149 2.029 2.029 0 0 1-2.146-2.15 2.039 2.039 0 0 1 1.955-2.122h.193l-.002.006Zm3.227 15.525a.75.75 0 0 1-.752.75H9.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.75h.748V12h-.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.751h3a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.752v6.75h.75a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.749L15 18.75Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Indian author Arundhati Roy has announced that she is withdrawing from the Berlin International Film Festival after what she described as \u201cunconscionable statements\u201d by its jury members about Israel\u2019s genocidal war on Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>Writing in India\u2019s The Wire newspaper, Roy said she found recent remarks from members of the Berlinale jury, including its chair, acclaimed director Wim Wenders, that \u201cart should not be political\u201d to be \u201cjaw-dropping\u201d.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 4 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>\u201cIt is a way of shutting down a conversation about a crime against humanity even as it unfolds before us in real time,\u201d wrote Roy, the author of novels and nonfiction, including The God of Small Things.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am shocked and disgusted,\u201d Roy wrote, adding that she believed \u201cartists, writers and filmmakers should be doing everything in their power to stop\u201d the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet 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,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The war is \u201csupported 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,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>During a panel to launch the festival on Thursday, a journalist asked the jury members for their views on the German government\u2019s \u201csupport of the genocide in Gaza\u201d and the \u201cselective treatment of human rights\u201d issues.<\/p>\n<p>German filmmaker Wim Wenders, who is the chair of the festival\u2019s seven-member jury, responded, saying that filmmakers \u201chave to stay out of politics\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we made movies that are dedicatedly political, we enter the field of politics. But we are the counterweight to politics. We are the opposite of politics. We have to do the work of people and not the work of politicians,\u201d Wenders said.<\/p>\n<p>Polish film producer Ewa Puszczynska, another jury member, said she thought it was \u201ca bit unfair\u201d to pose this question, saying that filmmakers \u201ccannot be responsible\u201d for whether governments support Israel or Palestine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are many other wars where genocide is committed and we do not talk about that,\u201d Puszczynska added.<\/p>\n<p>Roy had been due to participate in the festival, which runs from February 12 to 22, after her 1989 film, In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones, was selected to be screened in the Classics section.<\/p>\n<p>Germany, which is one of the biggest exporters of weapons to Israel, after the US, has introduced harsh measures to prevent people from speaking out in solidarity with Palestinians.<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, more than 500 international artists, filmmakers, writers and culture workers called on creatives to stop working with German-funded cultural institutions over what they described as \u201cMcCarthyist policies that suppress freedom of expression, specifically expressions of solidarity with Palestine\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCultural institutions are surveilling social media, petitions, open letters and public statements for expressions of solidarity with Palestine in order to weed out cultural workers who do not echo Germany\u2019s unequivocal support of Israel,\u201d organisers of the initiative said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jury chair Wim Wenders said filmmakers \u2018have to stay out of politics\u2019 when asked about German support for Israel\u2019s genocidal war in Gaza. Listen to this article\u00a0|\u00a03 mins info Indian author Arundhati Roy has announced that she is withdrawing from the Berlin International Film Festival after what she described as \u201cunconscionable statements\u201d by its jury [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}