Lupita Nyong’o on Berlinale Disinviting Far-Right Politicians From Opening Ceremony: ‘I’m Glad I Don’t Have to Be in That Position’
variety.comEllise Shafer During a press conference on Thursday, Berlinale jury president Lupita Nyong’o responded to the festival inviting and then disinviting politicians from far-right group AfD to its opening ceremony. “I’m a foreigner here.
I don’t know the ins and outs of the political situation here,” Nyong’o said in response to a question asking if she would have attended the ceremony had the politicians still been invited. “I’m glad I don’t have to answer that question.
I’m glad I don’t have to be in that position.” Jury member Christian Petzold, the German director of “Barbara” and “Phoenix,” had a different perspective. “I think it’s not a problem to have five persons of the AfD in the audience,” he said. “We are no cowards.
If you can’t stand five persons of the AfD as part of the audience, we will lose our fight.” He later added, “I think all of these questions make them stronger than they are … There are hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating against them and they are much more important than this kind of discussion.” This year’s jury also includes director Ann Hui (Hong Kong, China); filmmaker Albert Serra (Spain); actor-producer-director Brady Corbet (U.S.); actor-director Jasmine Trinca (Italy); and writer Oksana Zabuzhko (Ukraine).
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