During the press conference for the Main Competition jury, Wenders, in response to a question about the festival's government-based funding and its official response to the "ongoing
Gaza genocide" in comparison to its full support to
Ukraine and
Iranian democratic protests, stated that the jury "has to stay out of politics". The statement created controversy in the opening days of the festival, resulting in withdrawal of the films
The Dislocation of Amber (1975) by Sudanese filmmaker
Hussein Shariffe and
Sad Song of Touha (1972) by Egyptian filmmaker
Atteyat El Abnoudy, as well as the writer
Arundhati Roy, who was scheduled to appear with a restoration of the Indian film
In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones (1989). Roy said that "To hear them say that art should not be political is jaw-dropping. It is a way of shutting down a conversation about a crime against humanity even as it unfolds before us in real time—when artists, writers and film-makers should be doing everything in their power to stop it". On 17 February, more than 80 directors, actors and producers including
Tilda Swinton,
Javier Bardem,
Adam McKay and
Mike Leigh signed an open letter criticising the festival for “censoring artists who oppose Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the
German state’s key role in enabling it”, the letter urges the Festival to condemn the ongoing massacre of civilians in a similar position adopted to the ongoing massacre of civilians in Ukraine and Iran. Responding to the open letter, Berlinale's artistic director
Tricia Tuttle stated that the festival would not change its position on
Israel, but added that "people are realizing that maybe
staatsräson is holding us back from having important conversations about the government that is currently in power in Israel". Yeoh's refusal to comment on the U.S. government's ongoing
mass deportation program was also met with further controversy. During the closing ceremony, numerous winners and jury members from sidebars sections, who were mostly filmmakers from the
Middle East, including
Emin Alper,
Abdallah Al-Khatib, Marie-Rose Osta and
Ameer Fakher Eldin, took the stage to criticize the festival's lack of support to Palestinian civilians and condemn the ongoing
genocide in Gaza. Syrian-Palestinian filmmaker
Abdallah Al-Khatib won the GWFF Best First Feature Award for
Chronicles from the Siege. This film was the only Palestinian feature selected to the festival. During his speech the filmmaker, who lives in Germany, criticized the German and Israeli governments and their involvements in the Gaza War, prompting Germany's
Federal Minister for the Environment Carsten Schneider (
SPD) to leave the ceremony. In the aftermath of the closing ceremony, controversy ensued around Germany's
Minister of State for Culture led by
Wolfram Weimer (
CDU), the festival's main funder. An extraordinary meeting over the future of the festival was called by the Minister cabinet, while artist director
Tricia Tuttle faced imminent risk of dismissal after posing for pictures alongside a
flag of Palestine held by
Chronicles from the Siege crew. Tuttle had been hired after the
74th edition, on a 5-year deal, following the dismissal of
Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek for similar reasons. Shortly after, new open letters were created, this time supporting Tuttle and expressing concern with the German government censorship attempts, and were signed by industry members, Israeli filmmakers, international festival directors, and the Berlinale staff. Following these events,
Weimer announced that the German government would not dismiss Tuttle, and instead planned to develop guidelines for publicly funded cultural institutions aimed at balancing artistic freedom with Germany’s responsibilities regarding
antisemitism and
support for Israel. == Juries ==