The build-up to the 74th Berlin Film Festival (Feb 15 – Feb 25) has been highly politicised and the international jury press conference this morning was no different.
Lupita Nyong’o presides over the International Competition jury whose members include American actor and filmmaker Brady Corbet, Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui, German director Christian Petzold, Spanish filmmaker Albert Serra, Italian actress Jasmine Trinca, and Ukrainian novelist and poet Oksana Zabuzhko.
This wasn’t like most jury press conferences, however, with members drawn into multiple — occasionally testy — discussions about their own political stances on events in Ukraine, Gaza and Germany.
Russia’s war in Ukraine was a central topic with multiple journalists asking Spanish filmmaker Albert Serra about a 2018 interview in which he supposedly expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin. Serra was asked whether he had changed his mind on Putin since the war:
“I don’t know,” said the director. “This is a political question. Everyone is upset with Russia right now. I think politics is more complex than saying someone is a good person or a bad person. You say Trump is a bad person. What changes? It’s just a statement”.
Ukrainian novelist and poet Oksana Zabuzhko, who stood slightly apart from her fellow jurors at the photo call, was asked by the same journalist how she feels sharing a platform with a “Putin admirer”, to which she replied: “I was very intrigued by Albert’s answer. There is some good news. We were at dinner last night and he had a translation of my book about the war so I hope he’ll educate himself a little bit.”
At that point jury head Lupita Nyong’o could be heard to exclaim “Oh, Lord”. Brady Corbet came to Serra’s defence, saying having spent a little time with the filmmaker that he imagined there was added context to the comments. Serra himself advised the journalist to listen to the whole two hour interview she quoted from, in which he said he discussed many topics.
Nyong’o was asked for her take on the festival’s controversial opening ceremony invitation to far-right party AfD, which was later rescinded after industry outcry: “I’m a foreigner here. I don’t know the ins and outs of the political situation here. I’m glad I don’t have to answer that question. I’m glad I don’t have to be in that position.”
German filmmaker Christian Petzold took a different approach to the subject: “All these questions make them [the AfD] stronger than they are. We’ve been discussing this for days. There are hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating against them and they are more important than this kind of discussion.”
He added: “I don’t think it’s a problem to have five AfD members in the audience. We’re not cowards. If we can’t stand to have five people of the AfD in the audience we will lose our fight….”
That answer illicited a raise of the eyebrows from Nyong’o and a quiet exclamation of “wow”.
The build-up to the festival, the last for co-heads Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek, has been overshadowed by a furore over opening ceremony invitations to the controversial far-right party the AfD and criticism from festival workers over the festival’s stance on the conflict in Gaza.
Jurors were asked for their thoughts on the conflict in Gaza but Petzold had had enough of political topics at that point. “I would love to go to a non-political festival,” he mused. “I don’t think that artists talking about Gaza, Ukraine and the AfD is what it’s all about. It’s about film.”
“We are not Jesus,” added Serra. “I don’t have all the solutions.”
Nyong’o noted that the jury was “already having robust conversations” and that “it’s probably going to be spicy.” The actress said it is her first time at the Berlinale but that she had already been told many times to expect a deeply politicised event. If she was in any doubt, this morning’s presser would have confirmed just that.
For her part, filmmaker Ann Hui said she was glad to be on a platform of filmmakers with “such different views.”
The festival opens tonight with the Cillian Murphy movie Small Things Like These while the Competition includes La Cocina, starring Rooney Mara, French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop’s Dahomey, Hong Sangsoo’s A Traveler’s Needs starring Isabelle Huppert, Black Tea by Abderrahmane Sissako, the new Piero Messina film with Gael Garcia Bernal and Nazi resistance drama From Hilde, With Love with Liv Lisa Fries.
Other standout titles include Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, a feature documentary about influential British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger narrated by Killers of the Flower Moon filmmaker Martin Scorsese. Kristen Stewart starrer Love Lies Bleeding plays in the Specials program.
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