The AfD Invitation, Staff Disquiet & Uncomfortable Meetings: The Inside Story Of The Berlin Film Festival’s Tumultuous Build-Up
14.02.2024 - 11:40
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: The Berlin Film Festival gets underway tomorrow but organizers and staff will be doing so bruised after an uncomfortable build-up to the event.
The festival sparked controversy ten days ago after we revealed it had invited members of the far-right AfD (Alternative For Germany) party to the opening ceremony. The AfD, which is polling second in the country, is the source of much soul-searching in Germany due to its hardline agenda, which has been characterised as anti-Islam, anti-immigration, German nationalist, and Eurosceptic.
By the end of the week, organizers had rowed back on the lightning-rod decision, but not before inflicting some hefty PR self-harm and opening up internal divisions among staff.
Yesterday, further fault lines were exposed when 28 festival workers published an open letter criticising the festival for not going far enough in its condemnation of hostilities in Gaza and for not providing sufficient opportunities for debate on the subject at this year’s festival. The number of signatories grew to 40 throughout the day.
The 74th Berlin International Film Festival, which marks the sixth and final edition at the helm for Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek, runs February 15-25. It is gearing up to be a fractious affair.
The touch paper was lit two weeks ago following the invitations to the AfD. Their subsequent withdrawal was a result of what multiple internal sources have described to Deadline as a week-long tussle between staffers and festival co-heads Rissenbeek and Chatrian.
We’re told that news of the invitations started reaching festival staff around Wednesday 31st January, instantly causing concerns among some. Multiple sources told us that festival staffers warned Rissenbeek