Berlin Mayor Criticizes “Anti-Semitic” Berlinale Closing Ceremony As Hackers Post Ceasefire Message To Fest’s Social

Outgoing Berlinale head Carlo Chatrian has distanced himself from the criticism made of the fest’s closing ceremony speeches earlier this week.

Ellise Shafer Outgoing Berlinale artistic director Carlo Chatrian has spoken out about the political discourse surrounding the festival’s closing ceremony this year. As the Berlinale handed out prizes on Saturday night, several winning filmmakers took the opportunity in their acceptance speeches to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Israeli filmmaker Yuval Abraham, who last week picked up the best documentary award at the Berlin Film Festival, has said he has received death threats and had to cancel his flight home after German officials and Israeli media described his acceptance speech as “anti-Semitic”.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Berlin Film Festival said Monday that it has filed criminal charges following the hacking of its Panorama section’s Instagram social media site, which was used to post anti-Semitic messages. After a politically charged edition, festival organizers also attempted to distance the Berlinale management from the stances taken by some of the awards winners at Saturday’s closing ceremony. The organizers said that on Sunday, the day after the festival concluded, “The Instagram channel of the Berlinale Panorama section was briefly hacked and anti-Semitic image-text posts about the Middle East war with the Berlinale logo were posted on the channel.

British grime artist Wiley has been stripped of a national honour, after he posted abusive social media posts aimed at his Jewish critics and other figures.

Wiley has been stripped of his MBE for “bringing [the] honours system into disrepute”.The British Grime artist had received the honour back in December 2017 for his services to music. However, according to a list published on the Cabinet Office website, it appears that he has forfeited the MBE (via The Mirror).The honour being revoked comes in light of the numerous anti-Semitic statements made by the musician, which stem back nearly four years, and calls for action from the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism (CAA).Back in 2020, the London MC faced backlash after making anti-Semitic comments on Twitter, going on a rant about the music industry, Israel and Jewish people.

Martin Scorsese was at the Berlinale this week for the first time in a decade. His presence to collect an honorary Golden Bear was a reminder of the festival’s glories of yesteryear.

From his breakthrough work Family Viewing, which dates back to 1987, Atom Egoyan has been exploring the possibilities of different communication technologies by showing screens within screens, stories within other stories and the ways unconnected stories may merge with each other and with real life. Seven Veils is named for the Biblical character Salome, whose seductive dancing as she shed those veils earned her a grisly prize: the severed head of John the Baptist, the ascetic prophet who predicted the coming of Jesus Christ.

Berlin’s European Film Market (EFM) has posted a record of number of visitors for its 2024 edition, with more than 12,000 professionals from 143 countries attending this year.

Imagine a movie akin to a sad David Bowie song about an astronaut drifting alone into the dark abyss of space, contemplating his life, his lost love, his past, and an uncertain, perhaps soon-to-be-shortly doomed future. Sing the wistfully estranged and reflective “Space Odyssey” tune and the lamenting iconic line, “Tell my wife I love her very much, she knows!” That’s Swedish filmmaker Johan Renck’s “Spaceman” in a nutshell, which makes for possibly the weirdest, most existentially lonely movie Adam Sandler has ever starred in.

For a time, it seemed like an auteur war was about to break out over Adam Sandler, with some of America’s most revered directors vying to find the right role for the comedian. It was rumored, but never confirmed, that Quentin Tarantino imagined him a key role while writing Inglourious Basterds, although this might have been wishful thinking from critics who saw the talented Sandler heading in the same direction as John Travolta until Pulp Fiction saved him from a lifetime of Look Who’s Talking movies. In the end, Paul Thomas Anderson got there first, with Punch Drunk Love (2002), although the glow of a bona fide arthouse hit didn’t last long, and Jack and Jill still happened less than ten years later.

Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Stevie Nicks, Foo Fighters, SZA and literally thousands more will stop into festival grounds all over North America.To find the fest that makes the most sense for your schedule, our team went ahead and created a list of the 57 (!) biggest festivals — with tickets available — you won’t want to miss this year.From Tempe, AZ’s February Innings Festival all the way to kick off the year to Orlando, FL’s EDC in November, here are the 62 biggest North American music festivals in 2024.Feb. 23-24 at Tempe Beach Park in Tempe, AZRed Hot Chili Peppers, Hozier, Greta Van Fleet, Jimmy Eat World, Third Eye BlindMarch 1-2 at Tempe Beach Park in Tempe, AZNoah Kahan, Chris Stapleton, Dave Matthews Band, Sheryl Crow, Gin BlossomsMarch 14-17 at The Lot at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, CANicki Minaj, Post Malone, Lil Uzi Vert, Don Toliver, $uicide Boy$April 5-7 at the Fort Lauderdale Beach Park in Fort Lauderdale, FLLainey Wilson, Hardy, Old Dominion, Jason Aldean, Bret MichaelsApril 6-7 at the Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh, NCJ. ColeApril 12-13 at the Atlantic City Convention Center in Atlantic City, NJSaves The Day, Goldfinger, Hot Mulligan April 12-14, 19-21 at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, CALana Del Rey, No Doubt, Blur, J Balvin, Tyler The CreatorApril 18-21 at the Seascape Resort in Miramar Beach, FLNoah Kahan, Lake Street Dive, The Revivalists, Marcus King, DawesApril 20-21 at the Riverfront Park in North Charleston, SCNoah Kahan, Hozier, The Flaming Lips, Shovels and Rope, Grace PotterApril 25-28 and May 2-5 at the New Orleans Fairgrounds in New Orleans, LARolling Stones, Neil Young, The Killers, Foo Fighters, Chris StapletonApril 26-28 at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, CAEric Church, Miranda Lambert,

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor “From Hilde, With Love,” which world premiered Saturday in competition at the Berlinale, has debuted its trailer (below). The film, directed by Andreas Dresen, centers on a group of young anti-Nazi activists in Berlin during World War II. (Read Variety‘s review here.) The film, which is being sold by Beta Cinema and is produced by Claudia Steffen and Christoph Friedel for Pandora Film, stars “Babylon Berlin” breakout Liv Lisa Fries and Johannes Hegemann.

A Jewish uni student has claimed daily life on her Scots campus involves relentless anti-Semitism and harassment. The account was supplied to Jewish community leaders monitoring racism, particularly since the war in Gaza erupted after October 7.

Ed Meza @edmezavar An unsung master of movie magic, Solon Luigi Colani has worked on some of the biggest Hollywood movies ever shot in Germany and beyond, among them works by Quentin Tarantino, Ron Howard, George Clooney, Denis Villeneuve, Paul W.S. Anderson, Gore Verbinski and the Wachowskis.

Sal (Gael García Bernal) exists in a limbo — not the religious notion of a space between life and death, but a nonspace. He lives in a large apartment but appears to have no job or vocation.

Something eerie is afoot in the small Irish town of Wexford, where coal merchant Bill Furlong (Cillian Murphy) raises five young daughters alongside his wife, Eileen (Eileen Walsh). It’s Christmastime 1985, the busiest time of the year for the Furlong family business, but Bill is not feeling like himself.

EXCLUSIVE: The EFM packages aren’t done just yet. Pirates Of The Caribbean director and Oscar winner Gore Verbinski has pulled together a strong cast for his fun-sounding next movie, titled Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die.

Festival season 2024 is well underway, Insiders, as our team decamps to Berlin. That and plenty more news to report from around the world to follow. Jesse Whittock with you. Sign up for the Insider newsletter here.

Ellise Shafer Directors Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeh were banned by Iranian authorities from traveling to this year’s Berlin Film Festival, where their film “My Favourite Cake” is premiering in competition. At the film’s press conference on Friday morning, actors Lily Farhadpour and Esmail Mehrabi delivered a powerful message from the directors in the form of a letter as a photo of the two was propped up besides their empty seats. “Today, a film which we have spent three years of our lives making will be shown here, unfortunately, without our presence.