Tricia Tuttle, the director of the Berlin International Film Festival, has said statements made by No Other Land director Yuval Abraham and Base
Tricia Tuttle, the director of the Berlin International Film Festival, has said statements made by No Other Land director Yuval Abraham and Basel Adra at the closing ceremony of this year’s festival were not antisemitic, and “any discourse which suggests this… creates danger” for the film’s four directors.
In a post on the Berlinale’s Instagram page, Tuttle addressed the latest controversy around the film, which opens in German cinemas today (Thursday, November 14) via ImmerGuteFilme.
In its listing page for the film, the Berlin city website Berlin.de had described No Other Land as “exhibiting anti-Semitic tendencies”. This was highlighted by Abraham on X on Tuesday, who said “I feel unsafe and unwelcome in Berllin of 2024 as a left-wing Israeli and will take legal action.”
Berlin.de has since changed the wording of the page, which now states “An earlier version of the text stated that this film “exhibits anti-Semitic tendencies”. This assessment was incorrect and inadmissible. It has therefore been removed. Berlin.de apologizes for this error.”
In her statement today, Tuttle said “I want to be clear that I don’t consider the film, or statements made by co-directors, Palestinian Basel Adra and Israeli Yuval Abraham at the awards ceremony of the Berlinale to be anti-Semitic.
“I also believe that discourse which suggests this film or its filmmakers are anti-Semitic creates danger for all of them, inside and outside of Germany, and it is important that we stand together and support them.”
No Other Land won the Berlinale documentary award in February following its world premiere in the Panorama section. When accepting his award, Abraham highlighted his differences from co-director Adra, saying “I am under civilian law; Basel is under military law. We live 30 minutes from one another but I have voting rights. Basel does not have voting rights. I am free to move where I want in this land. Basel, like millions of Palestinians, is locked in the occupied West Bank. This situation of apartheid between us, this inequality, has to end.”
He was one of several awardees to make statements in support of the Palestinian people during the ceremony, including Golden Bear winner Mati Diop and the independent jury of the LGBT Teddy award.
The closing ceremony comments were criticised by German politicians, with senator for cultural affairs Joe Chialo describing them as “self-righteous anti-Israeli propaganda that has no place on the stages of Berlin”.
At the time, several politicians placed the comments in the context of Tuttle’s appointment as the up-to-date director of the Berlinale. Mayor Kai Wegner said he “expects measures here from the new Berlinale management”; Social Democrats spokesperson Melanie Kuhnemann-Grunow said “the Berlinale has suffered damage – whether this can be healed remains to be seen”; while Greens spokesperson Daniela Billig said “the incidents are a difficult legacy for the new director”.
Also directed by Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor, No Other Land shows the destruction of the occupied West Bank’s Masafer Yatta communities by Israeli soldiers, and the alliance that develops between Adra and Abraham. Autlook Filmsales represents international sales.
Tuttle’s statement today was posted to Instagram, but not to X, with the Berlinale one of several film organisations to announce its departure from the social media platform – in its case, at the end of this year.
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