Arundhati Roy withdraws from Berlin International Film Festival jury
Roy was expected to attend a screening of Pradip Kishen’s film “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones,” the 1989 film for which she wrote the screenplay, selected this year for the festival’s Classics section
Booker Prize-winning novelist Arundhati Roy has withdrawn from the Berlin International Film Festival jury, saying she was "shocked and disgusted" by comments from members of the festival's jury that film-makers should remain outside politics at a time of war in Gaza.
Roy was expected to attend a screening of Pradip Kishen's film "In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones," the 1989 film for which she wrote the screenplay, selected this year for the festival's Classics section, an invitation she described as carrying unexpected emotional weight, says Al Jazeera.
Berlinale jury president Wim Wenders told a press conference that "art should not be political," in response to a question about the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the military support the German government, the festival's main backer, has given Israel.
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"To hear them say that art should not be political is jaw-dropping," said Roy in a statement announcing she would be exiting the Berlinale jury. "It is a way of shutting down a conversation about a crime against humanity even as it unfolds before us in real time – when artists, writers and filmmakers should be doing everything in their power to stop it."
