Amid concerns about her future and calls for her ousting, Berlinale boss Tricia Tuttle has received a strong show of support from the leaders of some of the world’s other premier film festivals.
“We stand in support of Tricia Tuttle’s wish to continue as Berlinale Festival Director, in full trust and with institutional independence,” reads a letter signed by Cannes’ Thierry Frémaux, Sundance‘s Eugene Hernandez and others. “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,” the letter, shared Tuesday, continues. “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.”
The show of support for Tuttle comes as the Berlinale head continues to receive criticism for the handling of the 2026 Berlin Film Festival, during which competition jury head Wim Wenders and multiple attendees adopted a non-political stance in response to questions about the Israel-Gaza war, the rise of fascism around the world and other ongoing international conflicts.
Ethan Hawke, Neil Patrick Harris and Michelle Yeoh were some of the stars who found themselves not only on the receiving end of politically charged questions at the festival, but also at the center of controversies over their responses. After the festival, Tuttle told German reporters she and German culture minister Wolfram Weimer had discussed “the possibility of my mutual resignation.”
Despite that, Tuttle has expressed her desire to hold onto her Berlinale leadership position. “I am very proud of my team and the festival and want to continue the work we have started together with full confidence and institutional independence,” Tuttle said. The letter written in her support notes festivals like the Berlinale are more “fragile” to maintain than attendees and press may realize.
“While film festivals that are long-lived, and well-attended, may appear to be indestructible meeting places, these spaces are often fragile, hard-won and complex to preserve,” the letter states. “Film festivals as we know, and need them, are becoming increasingly challenging to sustain in a climate where the appreciation of nuance is collapsing. Supporting genuine freedom of expression, including the freedom to articulate imperfect or unpopular opinions, has never been more important.”
“We need to maintain spaces where discomfort is embraced, where debates can be expansive, where new ideas can propagate and where unexpected – and sometimes conflicting – perspectives are made visible,” the letter concludes. “We need all our stakeholders – audiences, creators, festival teams, public and private partners, industry, media, fellow institutions – to show each other grace, respect and solidarity as communities and networks connected through the love of film, or we risk losing these spaces completely. It is so much easier to destroy than it is to build.”
In addition to Frémaux and Hernandez, the letter’s signatories include the heads of other major international film festivals, including London Film Festival’s Kristy Matheson, Busan International Film Festival’s Jung Hanseok and Karen Park, Cannes Film Festival’s Christian Jeune, El Gouna Film Festival’s Amr Mansi, Locarno Film Festival’s Giona A. Nazzaro, Toronto International Film Festival’s Anita Lee and Cameron Bailey, Telluride Film Festival’s Julie Huntsinger, Sydney Film Festival’s Nashen Moodley and Frances Wallace and Sundance Film Festival’s Kim Yutani.
The letter was also signed by Festival do Rio’s Ilda Santiago, San Sebastian International Film Festival’s José Luis Rebordinos, Maialen Beloki and Lucía Olaciregui, São Paulo International Film Festival’s Renata de Almeida, Tokyo International Film Festival’s Shozo Ichiyama, Asian Contents & Film Market’s Ellen Y. D. Kim, Göteborg Film Festival’s Pia Lundberg and Mirja Wester, International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Vanja Kaludjercic and Clare Stewart, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival’s Karel Och and Kryštof Mucha, Melbourne International Film Festival’s Damien Hodgkinson and Al Cossar, Morelia Film Festival’s Daniela Michel, New Horizons Association’s Roman Gutek, New Horizons International Film Festival’s Dorota Lech and Sarajevo Film Festival’s Jovan Marjanović.
Nancy Spielberg, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Radu Jude, Yuval Abraham and others previously signed an open letter in late February similarly expressing their “deep concern” over Tuttle’s potential dismissal.
“When personnel consequences are drawn from individual statements or symbolic interpretations, a troubling signal is sent: cultural institutions come under political pressure,” Spielberg and co.’s open letter read. “The Berlinale is more than a red carpet or a series of headlines. It is a space where perspectives intersect, narratives are questioned, and social tensions are brought into view. This is where discourse unfolds – at the very heart of cinema.”
