The Berlin International Film Festival, which last year was the subject of protests and attempts to silence pro-Palestinian voices, has published the festival rules on its website.
“Our aim is to make your visit as pleasant and safe as possible,” the Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin said, laying out standard prohibitions for the 13-23 February 2025 event, such as smoking, eating, and drinking during events, being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, making noise and possessing materials that violate German narcotics laws.
Towards the end of the bans, one paragraph reads in full:
“Admission and supervisory staff may refuse entry to any visitor who is not behaving appropriately or who, in their opinion, is likely to disrupt the performance or exhibition or cause problems for other visitors. This includes any physical, verbal or gestural form of sexual harassment or discrimination. It is forbidden to wear or carry clothing, bags, materials, etc. containing expressions incompatible with the liberal democratic order. Individuals may be removed from the event or ejected from the venue. The instructions of the staff on duty must be followed. Tickets are non-refundable. (Editor’s emphasis)”
At the last festival in February, the best film award went to Senegalese-French director Mati Diop’s Dahomey, while the acceptance speech by Israeli Yuval Abraham, co-director of No Other Land, which won the best documentary award, caused a storm as many participants criticised Israel and expressed solidarity with the Palestinians.
In a statement on social media platform X, Abraham said that an Israeli channel had broadcast a 30-second section of the speech, which he described as ‘anti-Semitic’, and that he had since received death threats.
Following the documentary makers’ statements, German politicians began to speak out against Abraham and Adra, the Palestinian woman with whom he made the film.
Berlin’s CDU mayor Kai Wegner said: ‘What happened yesterday at the Berlinale was an unacceptable relativization. There is no place for anti-Semitism in Berlin, not even in the arts,’ he wrote.
Helge Lindh, a member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), described the audience’s applause after the speech on Saturday as ‘shocking’.
Berlin’s culture minister, Joe Chialo, later said the award ceremony was ‘marked by self-congratulatory anti-Israel propaganda’.
The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Claudia Roth, also announced an investigation into criticism of Israel’s attack on Gaza during the ceremony.
