Tricia Tuttle will remain on as director of the Berlinale, the Berlin International Film Festival confirmed on Wednesday.
“After today’s Supervisory Board meeting of the KBB on the future of the Berlinale, we welcome the Board’s confirmation of the importance of the independence of our work,” the festival shared in a statement. “We share their conviction that the festival is on the right path and that it can continue to grow and improve under Tricia Tuttle’s leadership.”
“We have also received recommendations rather than conditions related to Tuttle’s continued employment,” they continued. “Their consideration and any implementation now rests with the Berlinale, and we will review them.”
The update comes after the 2026 fest stirred up multiple political controversies. Jury president and German filmmaker Wim Wenders insisted the jury should “stay out of politics” when asked about Israel and Gaza at the start of the February event. Several pro-Palestine celebrities then issued an open letter against the film festival for its silence over the genocide.
The fallout forced the KBB (Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin) to meet with German officials to discuss the Berlinale’s future last week. However, many of Tuttle’s fellow film festival organizers notably spoke out in her defense, as did other leaders within the film community.
“We stand in support of Tricia Tuttle’s wish to continue as Berlinale Festival Director, in full trust and with institutional independence,” read a Tuesday letter signed by Cannes’ Thierry Frémaux, Sundance‘s Eugene Hernandez and more. “We recognise the mounting pressures on film festivals everywhere to navigate volatile times while maintaining a safe space for the exchange of cinema, and of ideas.”
“A core aspect of our role as cultural custodians is to create and protect the space for filmmakers, artists, professionals and audiences to come together. This includes people who bring with them not only a shared love of cinema, but also a huge variety of lived experiences and viewpoints,” they continued. “We must also navigate – with care – the fact that ‘everyone’ can include people with political and personal views that don’t always align, with each other, or with socially accepted or politically mandated positions.”
