After the anti‑Israeli protests at the Berlinale, State Minister of Culture Wolfram Weimer announced that he intends to restructure the festival. He told the ”Rheinische Post”‘s Monday edition: “The tone of the activists - regardless of where they come from - must not become the tone of the Berlinale”. Weimer added that juries, staff and artists should be better protected from “activist attacks”.
He stressed the need to review the Berlinale’s code of conduct, staffing arrangements and organisational issues so that such incidents do not recur. Weimer also said the festival must rest on a broader base of acceptance, arguing that political activists had cast a negative shadow over the event and poisoned the atmosphere with their actions. “There is hardly anyone who talks about the great filmmakers anymore” he lamented.
At the same time, the minister affirmed that the Berlinale will continue to be an open forum for cinema, tolerance and dialogue – a sentiment echoed by actors and directors who have participated. “But the Berlinale must not be a place for hate, antisemitism or even threats” he declared.
