The future of Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle remains uncertain following a supervisory board meeting on Thursday morning.
The supervisory board of the KBB, the umbrella association that operates the Berlinale, held an extraordinary meeting to discuss the future of the Berlin film festival and its director. The KBB is fully owned by the German government, which, through the culture ministry, is the main financial backer of the Berlinale.
“This morning, a supervisory board meeting of KBB GmbH took place at the Federal Chancellery,” the German culture ministry said in a statement. “The topic was the Berlinale. Discussions regarding the direction of the Berlinale will continue in the coming days between the director, Tricia Tuttle, and the supervisory board.”
Tuttle has come under fire from conservative circles for pro-Palestinian comments made by some of the filmmakers at this year’s award ceremony, held on Saturday. Palestinian director Abdallah Al-Khatib, whose film Chronicles From the Siege won the top prize in the Perspectives section, used his acceptance speech to call for a “free Palestine” and accused the German government of “being partners in the genocide in Gaza by Israel.” That prompted German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider to walk out of the ceremony in protest, and triggered a backlash from conservative politicians and media in Germany, who say the statements amount to “antisemitism” and “hate of Israel.”
German conservative tabloid Bild has led the backlash, targeting Tuttle in particular. A Bild column on Tuesday by right-wing journalist Gunnar Schupelius accused Tuttle of having “posed for Gaza propaganda,” referencing a photo of the festival director with Al-Khatib and the Chronicles From the Siege crew at the film’s Berlinale world premiere on Feb. 15. Tuttle is standing next to crew members holding up a Palestinian flag. Several men in the group are wearing the traditional Palestinian headscarf, the keffiyeh.
On Wednesday, Bild broke the news that the KBB was calling an extraordinary supervisory board meeting to discuss the events at this year’s festival and Tuttle’s future at the Berlinale. The paper, citing no sources, speculated that Tuttle would be fired, two years into her five-year mandate as Berlinale director.
The German and European film academies have thrown their support behind Tuttle, warning that firing her would be both unjust — as none of the supposedly offensive comments came from Tuttle or the festival but were made by filmmakers themselves — and would have a chilling effect on free speech at the Berlinale.
“An international film festival is not a diplomatic instrument; it is a democratic cultural space worthy of protection,” the German film academy wrote in its open letter. “Its strength lies in its ability to hold divergent perspectives and to give visibility to a plurality of voices.”
Several international filmmakers, including Tilda Swinton, Nancy Spielberg, Sean Baker, Kleber Mendonça Filho, and Radu Jude, have added their names to the open letter in support of Tuttle.
On Thursday, Berlinale staff and contractors also issued a statement on the festival’s official Instagram page, expressing their support for “extraordinary” artistic director Tricia Tuttle amid uncertainty over her future.
“The Berlinale Team looks back on a successful festival 2026, realised collectively and met with a positive response from filmmakers, industry representatives, as well as tens of thousands of audience members,” the statement reads. “In light of the ongoing debates and deeply worrying developments around our Festival Director, Tricia Tuttle, more than 500 Berlinale employees have now jointly shared this message with policymakers:
“We, the staff, contract employees and freelancers of the Berlinale and associated institutions, representing a plurality of perspectives, speak with one voice in unanimous support of the extraordinary Tricia Tuttle as the Director of the Berlinale.”
“We have all worked closely with Tricia during her tenure and witnessed firsthand the clarity, integrity, and artistic vision that she has brought to the Berlinale,” the statement continues. “She has made the many hundreds of Berlinale colleagues feel individually respected and, collectively, extremely proud of our achievements over the course of two difficult years.
We do not exaggerate when we say, as one, that it is unlikely the KBB Supervisory Board could have appointed a more intelligent, ethical, and responsive leader for the Berlinale, nor one more dedicated to the core principles that make this festival a vital platform for cinema in Germany and internationally.”
In her first year at the job, Tuttle was broadly praised for her efforts to foster an open and respectful debate on Gaza and other contentious political issues. In addition to screening Chronicles From the Siege, the Berlinale also invited Israeli director Tom Shoval to screen a recut version of his documentary A Letter to David, his tribute to actor friend David Cunio, who was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 and only recently released. The first version of A Letter to David screened at the Berlinale last year.
Tuttle attended the screening of A Letter To David – The Complete Version and, following the conservative backlash this week, Shoval posted a picture of the festival director hugging him before the 2025 premiere.
“She chose to screen the film and show solidarity with David and Ariel who were at the time still in captivity,” Shoval wrote in the post. “Tricia Tuttle saw beyond the politics. She saw the family’s human suffering and understood the urgent need to make their voice heard. She recognized that an innocent person who had acted in a film once screened at Berlinale, was now a hostage, and that the film community had a moral responsibility to demand his release…Tricia Tuttle is a true model of cultural leadership. She is a visionary with a cosmopolitan, progressive artistic outlook, and above all, an individual of unparalleled integrity. Tricia is an irreplaceable asset to the Berlinale, and I stand firmly behind her.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to the Berlinale for comment.
