Berlinale Grappling With Fresh Israel-Palestine Controversy After Hong Kong Filmmaker Is Investigated By Police For Speech
deadline.comThe Berlin Film Festival is mired in fresh Israel-Gaza War controversy following a pro-Palestinian speech by Hong Kong filmmaker Jun Li over the weekend, which has prompted a police investigation and calls from one prominent politician for the festival to be defunded.
Speaking at the premiere of his film Queerpanorama in the Panorama section on Saturday, Jun Li read out a speech on behalf of its star actor Erfan Shekarriz, who has boycotted the festival this year in protest at his perception that it is not supportive of Palestinians.
In the speech read by Jun Li, the actor referred to Israel as “a brutal colonial settler state funded by the West” and accused the German administration and its cultural institutions, including the Berlinale, of being complicit in “apartheid, genocide, brutal killing and erasure of the Palestinian people.” He was heckled from the floor from some members of the audience who shouted out: “No genocide.
Free Palestine from Hamas!” and “Is China democratic?”. The director finished the speech with the phrase “from the river to the sea”, which is interpreted by some as calling for the end of Israel and has been regarded as antisemitic.
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