The push back from Berlinale jury head Wim Wenders when it came to answering questions about politics sparked no shortage of headlines and outrage on the opening day of this year’s festival.
It’s now led to one major withdrawal from Berlin, with news that celebrated Indian author Arundhati Roy has pulled out.
Roy, who was due to present her 1989 campus comedy “In Which Annie Give It Those Ones” as part of the Classics section, has now said she will no longer be attending, citing the “unconscionable statements” made by the jury when asked to comment about Gaza.
“To hear them say that art should not be political is jaw-dropping,” she wrote in a statement first given to Indian publication The Wire and verified by Variety. “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 filmmakers should be doing everything in their power to stop it.”
Variety has reached out to the Berlinale for comment.
See Arundhati Roy’s full statement below:
‘In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones,’ a whimsical film that I wrote 38 years ago, was selected to be screened under the Classics section at the Berlinale 2026. There was something sweet and wonderful about this for me.
Although I have been profoundly disturbed by the positions taken by the German government and various German cultural institutions on Palestine, I have always received political solidarity when I have spoken to German audiences about my views on the genocide in Gaza. This is what made it possible for me to think of attending the screening of Annie at the Berlinale.
This morning, like millions of people across the world, I heard the unconscionable statements made by members of the jury of the Berlin film festival when they were asked to comment about the genocide in Gaza. 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.
Let me say this clearly: what has happened in Gaza, what continues to happen, is a genocide of the Palestinian people by the State of Israel. It is supported and funded by the governments of the United States and Germany, as well as several other countries in Europe, which makes them complicit in the crime.
If the greatest film makers and artists of our time cannot stand up and say so, they should know that history will judge them. I am shocked and disgusted.
With deep regret, I must say that I will not be attending the Berlinale.
Arundhati Roy