Berlinale winner dedicates speech to Palestinian liberation struggle

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA)—Syrian-Palestinian filmmaker Abdallah Al-Khatib on Saturday used his acceptance speech at the Berlinale film awards ceremony to make a political statement in support of the Palestinian liberation struggle.

“We will remember everyone who stood with us, and we will remember everyone who stood against us. Against our right to live with dignity, or those who choose to be silent. Free Palestine from now until the end of the world,” he told the audience in Berlin after his film “Chronicles From the Siege,” which tells the story of people trying to survive occupation, was named Best First Feature.

He accused the German government of being “a partner in the genocide in Gaza by Israel.”

Al-Khatib, who brought a Palestinian flag onto the stage, said that one day there would be “a great film festival in Gaza” dedicated to all oppressed people in the world.

Earlier, Lebanese filmmaker Marie-Rose Osta, who won the Golden Bear for best short film, had also criticized Israel's conduct of the war on stage.

“In reality, children in Gaza, in all of Palestine, and in my Lebanon do not have superpowers to protect them from Israeli bombs (...) No child should need superpowers to survive a genocide empowered by veto powers and the collapse of international law," she said in her acceptance speech.

“The ceasefire continues to be violated by Israel both in Gaza and Lebanon,” Osta added.

She stressed that the lives of children in Gaza and Lebanon are "not negotiable.”

On Wednesday, dozens of actors and directors, including Javier Bardem and Tilda Swinton, accused the Berlin International Film Festival of "anti-Palestinian racism" and urged organizers to clearly state their opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

In an open letter published in Variety, 81 film workers criticized what they called the Berlinale’s “involvement in censoring artists who oppose Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”

The signatories also took issue with comments by this year’s jury president, Wim Wenders, who said at a recent press briefing in Berlin, when asked about Gaza, “We should stay out of politics.”