Israeli Film Community Expresses Support For Embattled Berlinale Chief Tricia Tuttle

Israel’s film community, comprising a group of film institutes, film festivals, and film funds, have expressed its support for the embattled Chief of the Berlin Film Festival, Tricia Tuttle, in a letter to the festival’s governing body.

The letter was sent to the KBB supervisory board, which oversees the Berlinale. Signatories include the heads of Docaviv Film Festival, Jerusalem Film Festival, Haifa Film Festival, and the Israel Film Fund.

In the letter, the Israeli film community commended Tuttle for steering the Berlinale through two tumultuous years of unprecedented political turmoil. This turmoil has spilt over into the cultural and cinematic spheres. They praised her “clear-sighted dedication to the festival’s mission.”

The community further highlighted Tuttle’s “commitment to diversity of voices, non-censorship, and creating a space of open debate to all voices” and her support of Israeli films at the festival.

It said: “We deeply value her continued commitment to hearing and showing Israeli cinema. By providing a platform for our filmmakers, she has ensured that the multifaceted reality of Israeli society continues to engage with the world in a meaningful way. Under Tricia Tuttle’s guidance, we feel confident that the festival remains a place where the power of the moving image transcends rhetoric and fosters genuine human connection”.

It would be recalled that the 2026 Berlinale had witnessed a lot of politically tense moments with certain celebrities boycotting the festival for its silence on Gaza, and a number of the festival’s winners using their acceptance speeches to reference the war.

The controversy turned at the festival’s closing ceremony when German Environment Minister, Carsen Schneider, walked out of the ceremony when Palestinian director Abdallah Al-Khatib, whose film ‘Chronicles From the Siege’ won the main prize in the Perspectives segment, accused the German government of being a “partner in the genocide in Gaza by Israel”.

These weighed into the German Minister of State for Culture, Wolfram Weimer’s alleged call for Tricia Tuttle to be replaced as director of the Berlinale.

Euro News reported that Tuttle, who has only helmed the festival for two years (2025/2026), had warned on the eve of her assumption of office that Germany’s perception of controlling free speech over the Middle East conflict was directly affecting the event.

The medium also noted Tuttle’s fears that criticism of Israel would be condemned as antisemitism in Germany, especially in the wake of the German parliament’s resolution in 2024 on the protection of Jewish life, a controversial move that has led opponents to say that it equates criticism of Israel with antisemitism.