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The Berlin Film Festival head defended actors and filmmakers who choose to avoid politics in press interviews in a lengthy statement Saturday night.
Director Tricia Tuttle made the comments after actors like Neil Patrick Harris and Michelle Yeoh declined to comment on US political matters while attending the festival. Festival jury head and German filmmaker Wim Wenders also came under scrutiny for fielding several questions regarding the conflict in Gaza.
Tuttle defended their apolitical stances, adding that artists should not be expected to offer “a brief sound bite” on every political issue.
“People have called for free speech at the Berlinale,” Tuttle said. “Free speech is happening at the Berlinale. But increasingly, filmmakers are expected to answer any question put to them. They are criticized if they do not answer. They are criticized if they answer, and we do not like what they say. They are criticized if they cannot compress complex thoughts into a brief sound bite when a microphone is placed in front of them when they thought they were speaking about something else.”
Tuttle also defended their work, saying that they all provide different perspectives on political issues, whether it was politics with a “small ‘p’” or a “capital ‘P.’”
“In a media environment dominated by crisis, there is less oxygen left for serious conversation about film or culture at all, unless it can be folded as well into a news agenda,” she said.
Tuttle emphasized that most filmmakers at the festival show a “deep respect” for human dignity, regardless of how involved they were in politics.
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“We do not believe there is a filmmaker screening in this festival who is indifferent to what is happening in this world, who does not take the rights, the lives and the immense suffering of people in Gaza and the West Bank, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Sudan, in Iran, in Ukraine, in Minneapolis, and in a terrifying number of places, seriously,” Tuttle said.
She added, “Artists are free to exercise their right of free speech in whatever way they choose. Artists should not be expected to comment on all broader debates about a festival’s previous or current practices over which they have no control. Nor should they be expected to speak on every political issue raised to them unless they want to.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Berlin Film Festival for comment.
Although celebrities like Harris and Yeoh have opted to stay out of politics, others have had no hesitation in entering the political arena, particularly at the Grammy Awards earlier this month.