Arundhati Roy to skip Berlin Film Festival after jury’s ‘unconscionable’ remarks about Gaza

Author and activist Arundhati Roy on Friday said that she will not be attending the 2026 Berlin International Film Festival, where her 1989 film In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones has been selected to be screened under the Classics section.

She said she took the decision after members of the jury of the Berlin film festival said that art should not be political, when they were asked to comment about Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.

“We have to stay out of politics because if we make movies that are dedicatedly political, we enter the field of politics,” The Guardian quoted Wim Wenders, a director and a jury member, as saying. “But we are the counterweight of politics, we are the opposite of politics. We have to do the work of people, not the work of politicians.”

Israel’s offensive in Gaza began in October 2023 after Hamas killed 1,200 persons during its incursion into southern Israel and took hostages. Israel has been carrying out unprecedented air and ground strikes on besieged Gaza since then, leaving more than 70,000 persons dead.

The film In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones was written by Roy and directed by Pradip Krishen.

The 76th annual Berlin International Film Festival, also called the Berlinale, is taking place from February 12 to February 22 in Berlin, Germany.

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