EXCLUSIVE: The Berlin Film Festival gets underway tomorrow but organizers and staff will be doing so bruised after an uncomfortable build-up to the event.
The festival sparked controversy ten days ago after we revealed it had invited members of the far-right AfD (Alternative For Germany) party to the opening ceremony. The AfD, which is polling second in the country, is the source of much soul-searching in Germany due to its hardline agenda, which has been characterised as anti-Islam, anti-immigration, German nationalist, and Eurosceptic.
By the end of the week, organizers had rowed back on the lightning-rod decision, but not before inflicting some hefty PR self-harm and opening up internal divisions among staff.
Yesterday, further fault lines were exposed when 28 festival workers published an open letter criticising the festival for not going far enough in its condemnation of hostilities in Gaza and for not providing sufficient opportunities for debate on the subject at this year’s festival. The number of signatories grew to 40 throughout the day.
The 74th Berlin International Film Festival, which marks the sixth and final edition at the helm for Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek, runs February 15-25. It is gearing up to be a fractious affair.
The touch paper was lit two weeks ago following the invitations to the AfD. Their subsequent withdrawal was a result of what multiple internal sources have described to Deadline as a week-long tussle between staffers and festival co-heads Rissenbeek and Chatrian.
We’re told that news of the invitations started reaching festival staff around Wednesday 31st January, instantly causing concerns among some. Multiple sources told us that festival staffers warned Rissenbeek and Chatrian in those days that the invitation would be divisive if publicized, and optically, could be seen to align the festival with the AfD’s far-right agenda.
Days later, on Saturday 3rd February, we revealed the open letter signed by more than 200 industry professionals who were angered by the move. Soon after our initial story, things became heated between festival management and their team.
On Monday 5th, full-time staffers gathered at festival HQ for their regular organizational meeting chaired by Rissenbeek and Chatrian. There, staffers made their frustrations known.
“Many were against it, and many were upset,” one staffer claimed to us. “Not only about the invitation, but about how we were treated.”
Five sources tell us the discussion began with a small group of staff questioning the pair about the invitations and the festival’s stance that they were federally mandated to invite democratically elected politicians of all hues to the event.
We’re told that things escalated quickly due to what one source described as the pair’s “unsatisfactory” answers, their unwillingness to budge on AfD representatives attending the opening ceremony and over what another source called a blasé response from Chatrian to staff concerns over their safety and mental well-being in light of the AfD invitations.
The festival told us today: “At the suggestion of the Berlin Senate and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Berlinale invited a total of five AfD elected representatives. Inviting democratically elected MPs – including those from the AfD – from the relevant parliamentary committees and the parliamentary group chairmen of the House of Representatives has been common political practice to date. The Berlinale directors were in close contact with the team to discuss this. There were different opinions. The directors took the concerns seriously but ultimately wanted to consider before breaking with the previous political principles with regard to the AfD. They promised to further communicate with the team when having taken a final decision.”
The festival described the meeting to us as “intensive internal discussion with the whole team”. It also claimed today that “the discussion also made us aware of how much our commitment to a free society and against right-wing extremism is part of our self-image. It was therefore important for us – as the Berlinale and as a team – to take a clear stand for an open democracy and against right-wing extremism. This led to the final decision to disinvite the previously invited AfD delegates.”
However, on Monday and Tuesday, Rissenbeek — who runs the business and media-facing side of the festival — and German Culture Minister Claudia Roth, gave a series of interviews to local media outlets in which they defended the decision to invite the AfD and there was no public rowing back. These interviews did not land well with festival staff.
“The internal reactions, especially to Mariette Rissenbeek’s interviews, were bad,” one staffer told us of the festival’s media run.
Roth defended the state-backed festival and for the first time told local reporters through a spokesperson that the invitations were sent at the “suggestion” of her office. The AfD currently has 12 members in the German Bundestag — the country’s congress.
Rissenbeek expressed again in her interviews that the festival stands against all forms of extremism but was beholden to federal mandates. However, one interview with Deutschlandfunk Kultur, a local radio radio network, caused particular disappointment among staffers. During the interview, Rissenbeek said the festival had no real influence over the invitations and appeared to suggest it would be unwise for the festival to position itself against the AfD because they don’t know which direction German politics may turn in the future.
“To act politically as a festival now, especially in times where you don’t know where politics is heading, is also very dangerous,” she told the network.
“The interviews were the worst part of it all,” a festival source expressed to us. “They showed how little they stand by their code of conduct. How can you just say these people have been democratically elected, so we’re going to invite them? Everyone in Germany knows this is not a democratic party.”
There are fears from many in the industry that the AfD could sweep local and European elections this summer.
The festival said today of Rissenbeek’s quote above: “This isolated radio quote does not reflect the fact that it must be carefully considered when disinviting democratically elected representatives. The accusation that one is not acting democratically at this moment exists, and this was also discussed in the German media. But the directors decided to disinvite because politicians who want to abolish basic democratic rights and represent positions that discriminate against and marginalize people can not be welcome at the Berlinale.”
The interviews were said to have spawned a series of further internal meetings last week, where staff members “demanded” the invitations were revoked as a matter of urgency. We’re told staff members threatened to escalate their protests, including publicly, if AfD members were not immediately disinvited.
“This is not in my name” a source told us at the time. “I have to be able to look at myself in the mirror and know I did my part and tried to do the right thing.”
Meanwhile, Deadline and national outlets published multiple articles highlighting planned red-carpet protests and disappointment from German actors, directors, trade groups and other industry professionals. In a statement sent to us, The Wave and Das Boot director Dennis Gansel called the invitations “highly problematic”.
The pressure reached a crescendo. Rissenbeek, Chatrian, and other senior management staff are said to have spent the majority of Thursday locked in heated talks on whether the invitations could be rescinded and how best to communicate that publicly. We’re told the decision to rescind the invitations was made during a hectic few hours that afternoon.
Festival staff were sent a message from Rissenbeek explaining that management was crafting a statement to be issued by the end of the day. That statement would announce that AfD representatives were no longer welcome at the opening ceremony. After we got wind of the high-stakes talks and potential U-turn and contacted the festival for comment, the statement was quickly moved forward in the day. Staff were sent an email signed by management and then the AfD received a formal letter explaining the festival’s new position. We’ve subsequently been sent a copy of that letter from our sources, which you can read in full below.
Throughout last week, multiple sources told us that Culture Minister Roth was against any U-turn on the invites. When the festival published its new position Thursday, Roth’s view softened, and she released a statement that appeared to contradict the festival’s previous claim that it was mandated to invite all elected politicians.
“It is up to the Berlinale management to finally decide who to invite to the opening and who not and we respect this decision,” a spokesman for the Green Party politician said in Berlin on Thursday.
The spokesman made reference to recent reports about a secret meeting held by senior AfD members in which they allegedly discussed deporting asylum-seekers and German citizens of foreign origin en masse if they came to power. The spokesman said the plans showed that the party was “thinking about disenfranchising” a large portion of German citizens.
“It is understandable that filmmakers from Germany, Europe, and the world are committed to ensuring that racists and enemies of democracy should have no place at the Berlinale,” the spokesman said. We’ve reached out to Roth’s office for comment.
Meanwhile, the AfD gave a press conference late last week in which it said it was “astonished” to be disinvited from the opening and that the festival was “bowing to cultural-political activists.”
While AfD representatives are no longer welcome at the festival’s opening ceremony, the party could still have a presence during the Berlinale. Several AfD members have been sent invitations to a cultural reception taking place during the festival hosted by German state NRW. The festival told us today that this event is “not a Berlinale event and is 100% organised by the NRW.” We’ve reached out to NRW, and to the AfD for comment as to whether they will attend.
Given the country’s history, the fear of the AfD is real among many Berlinale staffers. For them, having the party anywhere near the event is problematic. “It’s a general symptom of Germany and how it deals with the AfD. They’re not taking them seriously,” a festival source lamented to us. “We are experiencing pre-fascist times.”
In recent years, the Berlinale has faced significant challenges in attracting top-tier arthouse and U.S. studio movies. Ironically, this year’s lineup is perhaps the most interesting and buzzy since the outgoing leaders took over. However, the AfD affair has dominated the build-up to the event and clouded what could have been a more positive send off.
Berlinale’s Letter to the AfD [sent on Feb 8th]:
Today’s letter to 5 AfD MPs each
Dear Madam / Dear Member of Parliament,
The contingent of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media, and the Berlin Senate received an invitation to the Berlinale, which was sent to elected members of all parties in the House of Representatives. With today’s letter, we revoke this invitation.
The AfD and many of its members and representatives represent positions that deeply contradict the basic values of democracy. Demands for a homogeneous society, immigration restrictions and mass deportations, homophobic and anti-queer or racist statements to bad historical revisionism, and clear right-wing extremism – you can find all of that in the AfD. This is for us and our employees simply unacceptable. They officially call for a “German dominant culture instead of multiculturalism.” It says on your website. “Multi-culture is non-culture.”
But we at the Berlinale stand for exactly that: Cultural diversity. People who want to abolish basic democratic rights are not welcome at the Berlinale. The fact that the AfD is planning this has become very clear, especially in the last few weeks.
We therefore hereby disinvite you. There is no place for you at the Berlinale.
