Arundhati Roy pulls out of Berlin Film Festival over jury’s ‘don’t mix art with politics’ remark on Gaza

Berlin: Award-winning Indian writer Arundhati Roy said on Friday that she had decided to pull out of the Berlin Film Festival after remarks by jury president Wim Wenders, who had said he preferred not to engage with political issues when questioned about Gaza.

In a statement sent to AFP, Roy said she was deeply disturbed by Wenders’ response to a question on Gaza during a press conference the previous day and described her reaction as one of shock and anger. She said she had therefore chosen not to attend the Berlinale.

Roy, whose novel "Children of a Lesser God" won the 1997 Booker Prize, had been invited as a festival guest to present a restored version of the 1989 film In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones, in which she acted and wrote the screenplay.

She said she had reconsidered her participation after what she described as unconscionable remarks by Wenders and other jury members, AFP reported.

She added that the suggestion that art should remain separate from politics was deeply troubling. Referring to the press conference, Roy said Wenders had indicated that filmmakers should not enter the realm of politics and had framed artists as a counterbalance rather than participants in political debate.

In her statement, Roy described Israel’s actions in Gaza as amounting to genocide against Palestinians. She said that if leading filmmakers and artists failed to speak out on such issues, history would hold them accountable.