Anwalt: Haft und Peitschenhiebe für Berlinale-Gewinner Rassulof
Eine offizielle Bestätigung oder Begründung gibt es noch nicht, doch laut einem Anwalt ist der Filmemacher und Berlinale-Gewinner Rassulof im Iran zu einer Haftstrafe verurteilt worden. Er gilt als einer der kritischen Kulturschaffenden des Landes.
Israeli Director of “No Other Land” Slams Claims of Antisemitism After Berlin Film Fest Controversy (Democracy Now!, 2024-04-05)
Video with Transcript.
"... conversation with Israeli journalist and filmmaker Yuval Abraham about the award-winning new documentary No Other Land, which he co-directed with Palestinian activist Basel Adra, about land dispossession in Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank. While accepting the audience award for best documentary at the #Berlinale Abraham said Israel was practicing apartheid, a comment for which he later received death threats..."
“... Abraham... calls for an end to the 'apartheid reality' in Israel and Palestine. 'If there is no full political equality and really full freedom to everybody who lives in this land, then there can be no future here. We are going to continue to fight to change this.'”
Israeli Director of “No Other Land” Slams Claims of Antisemitism After Berlin Film Fest Controversy (Democracy Now!, 2024-04-05)
"... conversation with Israeli journalist and filmmaker Yuval Abraham about the award-winning new documentary No Other Land, which he co-directed with Palestinian activist Basel Adra, about land dispossession in Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank. While accepting the audience award for best documentary at the #Berlinale Abraham said Israel was practicing apartheid, a comment for which he later received death threats..."
“... Abraham, who calls for an end to the 'apartheid reality' in Israel and Palestine. 'If there is no full political equality and really full freedom to everybody who lives in this land, then there can be no future here. We are going to continue to fight to change this.'”
Empörungskultur und Kunstfreiheit: Warum nicht jede scharfe Kritik an Israel antisemitisch ist (Jürgen Trittin | Blätter, April 2024) (in German, with paywall)
"Outrage Culture and Artistic Freedom: Why not every harsh criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic"
... written by one of the prominent Green politician and ex-Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin.
Empörungskultur und Kunstfreiheit: Warum nicht jede scharfe Kritik an Israel antisemitisch ist (Jürgen Trittin | Blätter, April 2024) (in German, with paywall)
"Outrage Culture and Artistic Freedom: Why not every harsh criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic"
... written by one of the prominent Green politician and ex-environment minister Jürgen Trittin.
A careworn Cillian Murphy excelled, Atlantics director Mati Diop returned, astronaut Adam Sandler had us drifting off, and kitchen dramas continued to sizzle
Opinion | Absurd, clumsy, racist: #Germany's taboo against criticizing Israel must stop (Hanno Hauenstein | Haaretz)
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“Germans increasingly appear to try to absolve their shame over the Holocaust by policing dissenting voices that challenge the prevailing pro-Israeli German state narrative. The price is often grotesque disregard for the very descendants of the victims of our forefathers' crimes, let alone for the plight of Palestinians.
“In doing so, many Germans today place a performance of staunch pro-Israel rhetoric above the very values that should guide any right-minded individual towards a firm rejection of both antisemitism and racism. Such travesty bears little connection with the ongoing debates within Israeli civil society or with Palestinians' well-founded aspirations for liberation and self-determination.”
"„Wissen Sie, die wichtigsten Konsequenzen wären zu ziehen, wenn wir uns überlegen, wie die Jurys besetzt sind“, sagt Joe Chialo.
(..)
Heißt das, man muss sich angucken, wer Filme auswählen darf? Und wer ist das, der oder die da angucken soll? Entschuldigen Sie, das ist DDR." - Thomas Heise
Der Empörungstsunami: Warum die #Berlinale-Preisrede nicht antisemitisch war
Der Antisemitismus-Vorwurf um die Preisrede auf der Berlinale ist falsch. Es wird Zeit zu verstehen, was antisemitisch ist und was nicht. Ein Gastbeitrag. (Klaus Bachmann | Berliner Zeitung, 2024-02-28)
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An opinion article by an international active political scientist titled
“Tsunami of outrage: the reason why the Berlinale prize ceremony speech was not antisemitic”
Nowadays, only to find this kind of reasonable, logical and not ideological argument in German mass-media is almost a blessing…🙏
So #Berlin wants to be a cultural hotspot, full of vibrant and diverse life, enjoying all the freedoms of progressive liberalism - that PR-driven image fell to pieces at the Berlinale, after Israeli director Yuval Abraham used the acceptance speech for the Best Documentary award for "No Other Land"to show his solidarity with Palestinians having to live under Israeli occupation and especially his co-director, the journalist for the important +972 Magazine and Palestinian activist Basel Adra:
"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".
Several politicians and media condemned this factual correct account as antisemitic, and Germany's biggest tabloid Bild accused Germany's minister of state for culture Claudia Roth to have applauded Abraham's "Anti-Israel speech". Roth from the German Greens and earlier in her life belonging to the radical Left actually defended herself by claiming that she only applauded to the Israeli, not the Palestinian director.
Bild, once the main enemy of the radical left in Germany's print media, today rules the ideological discourse firmly rooted in its commitment to Israel and the US. So-called leftists in the Green party do everything to bow their heads to its publishing house Axel Springer Verlag instead of boycotting these rightwing and war mongering demagogues like the revolutionary youth did half a century ago.
Berlin has shown it's real provincialism in full display, and the broadly announced claim that the #Berlinale is a politicized festival is reduced to a vapid joke. If you deflect from Germany's complicity in this #genocide by pointing your finger on other despots and war criminals like Putin you'll surely get good ratings in the press, but if this critique hits home it can't get a lot cringier than this.
If this so called scandal wouldn't be sadly used to legitimize the carnage in #Gaza to kill the victims a second time by negating their sheer existence it would be just to bizarre not to laugh.
Lesenswerter Text zur #Berlinale
Zum Vorwurf der Einseitigkeit, der Frage ob es hier um juristische Definitionen bestimmter Begriffe geht, gesellschaftliche Tabus - und was das alles an Auswirkungen auf eine Debatte zum Konflikt hat.
"Denn eine Debatte, in der man Israel nicht mehr kritisieren kann, ohne dass ein liberaler Minister mit dem Strafgesetzbuch und andere Regierungspolitiker mit dem Antisemitismus-Vorwurf hantieren, ist keine mehr." https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/kultur-vergnuegen/berlinale-eklat-warum-die-preisrede-nicht-antisemitisch-war-li.2191552
The mayor of #Berlin accused Yuval Abraham of antisemitism for calling for #Germany to stop enabling Israel's genocide in Palestine and an immediate dismantling the apartheid system during his #Berlinale award speech. This should be a wakeup call for Germans but unfortunately it won't be, because for them #antisemitism is merely an alibi for supporting genocide; #German society routinely hazes any #Jew who refuses to provide that alibi, arresting protestors and smearing us with accusations of antisemitism for upholding the core Jewish duty of opposing #Zionist politics as inscribed in the Gemara of Ketubot 111a:4 of the #Talmud (most explicitly, but also appearing in various shapes and forms across countless other tractates from Berachot to Avoda Zarah)
Man muss die Meinung des Autors nicht teilen, aber hier sind zumindest mal die vollständigen Zitate des Israelisch-Palästinensischen Regie-Duos Abraham und Ada zu lesen. Auch diese muss man nicht teilen, aber wenn das schon als strafbar antisemitisch bezeichnet wird*, können wir jede Debatte zu Israel/Gaza in Deutschland vergessen. 🤷
Beitrag in 3Sat zu "No other land" und Interview mit 2 der Regisseure aus dem Kollektiv, Abraham und Arda. Wenn man sich deren Anliegen nur etwas genauer anschaut, wird der Vorwurf des Antisemitismus umso grotesker. #Berlinale
Buschmann sieht nach Berlinale-Vorfall strafrechtliche Konsequenzen（Zeit）
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#German politicians and mass media keep on fussing about “antisemitism” on the #Berlinale Gala, which virtually were calls for peace and (at the most) fair criticism on Israel.
The German justice minister Marco Buschmann warns that they might be examined under criminal laws. 🤦
"We will file criminal charges against unknown persons" -Berlinale
Hyperallergic:
"German Film Festival Hacked With Pro-Palestine Posts"
'Unidentified hackers reportedly accessed the Berlin International Film Festival’s (Berlinale) Instagram account and posted infographics calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Though the organization immediately deleted the posts and published a notice disavowing the statement, screenshots had already gone viral on social media, adding fuel to the festival’s controversy as several German officials have publicly denounced several category winners for calling for a ceasefire in their closing ceremony speeches.
'The controversy came amid an international call to boycott the German arts sector for the nation’s continued suppression of pro-Palestinian creatives as well as its unconditional support for Israel. A number of Berlinale’s own workers issued a statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza earlier this month, followed by over 100 participating filmmakers across various categories signing off on a list of demands for the festival to acknowledge the artists who withdrew their entries and to “confront censorship and the silencing of critical perspectives in the cultural sector in Germany,” among other points.'
🧵 Gibt es #Antisemitismus in der Kulturszene? In Teilen der Linken? Auf vielen Pro-Palästina Solidaritätsbekundungen? Sind die Begriffe Genozid u. Apartheid problematisch?
Klare Antwort: JA!
Ein angenehm differenzierter Blick auf die #Berlinale, der auch die internationale Perspektive einbezieht. Ist doch auch ein internationales Festival, oder?
"Miteinander geredet aber wird nicht. Das kann man selbstverständlich immer so weitermachen. Es führt bloß nirgendwo hin."😐
Analyse: Was tun gegen Antisemitismus im Kulturbetrieb?
Antisemitismus im Kulturbetrieb ist kein neues Phänomen. Jetzt sorgen Aussagen zu Israel und dem Gaza-Krieg bei der Berlinale-Preisverleihung für Empörung. In der Kritik steht einmal mehr Kulturstaatsministerin Roth.
Hello #Cinemaniacs. Here's a pro tip for your next trip to #Portugal. Find yourself a mid-sized town with one or two large malls including a multiplex #cinema. Go there on a Monday evening and search for the only independent movie on the programme and you'll end up with a private projection almost 100 % of the time. Satisfaction guaranteed!😉 (works especially well if the movie's original language is neither English nor Portuguese) #Viseu#VidasPassadas#lifehack#füreuchgetestet
@sustainrelease In my experience ANY independent movie in an original language with subtitles will be a more or less private screening in any cinema. 😄
That's what make the #Berlinale great: There people stand in line for these movies and the cinamas are packed.
Thanks for asking. I saw "Past Lives" (2023), a Korean movie that was featured in Germany during the last #Berlinale. For whatever reason, it screened with a year of delay here in #Portugal? It's a good movie and the feature film debut by director #CelineSong.
Antisemitismus auf der #Berlinale, dünne Distanzierung der Veranstalter ("individuelle Meinungen"), zurück zum Alltag. Alles wie immer in Deutschland. Ich schäme mich für diese Menschen.
The boycott against Germany's complicity in #IsraelTerroristState genocide of Gaza is having an effect. Total boycott of german culture, products, relationships became urgent in the face of german government and several (almost all) institutions' support of #IsraelWarCrimes.
“This change is the result of actions taken by a large number of people on the ground in Berlin, and around the world,” Strike Germany wrote in a statement posted on Instagram. “By adopting the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, the policy would have penalized those who criticize the state of Israel—at a moment when Israel is engaged in a genocidal assault on #Palestinians in #Gaza.”
Unidentified #hackers reportedly accessed the Berlin International #Film#Festival’s (#Berlinale) Instagram account and posted infographics calling for a #ceasefire in #Gaza. Though the organization immediately deleted the posts and published a notice disavowing the statement, screenshots had already gone viral on social media, adding fuel to the festival’s controversy as several #German officials have publicly denounced several category winners for calling for a ceasefire in their closing ceremony speeches.
A number of Berlinale’s own workers issued a statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza earlier this month, followed by over 100 participating filmmakers across various categories signing off on a list of demands for the festival to acknowledge the artists who withdrew their entries and to “confront censorship and the silencing of critical perspectives in the cultural sector in Germany,” among other points. https://web.archive.org/web/20240227013740/https://hyperallergic.com/873838/berlinale-film-festival-hacked-with-pro-palestine-posts/
Berlin film festival 2024 roundup – tasty treats and the odd potboiler (www.theguardian.com)
A careworn Cillian Murphy excelled, Atlantics director Mati Diop returned, astronaut Adam Sandler had us drifting off, and kitchen dramas continued to sizzle