Berlinale meet called over film director's anti-Israel speech

Bild daily reported that Tricia Tuttle, the US director of the Berlinale, is expected to be sacked at the meeting, citing sources close to the KBB, the state-owned company that runs the festival.

The KBB dismissed the report, telling AFP in a short statement: "We believe this is fake news."

The Gaza war loomed large over the February 12-22 festival, and Syrian-Palestinian filmmaker Abdallah Al-Khatib in Saturday's closing ceremony accused Germany of being complicit in "genocide" in Gaza through its support for Israel.

Culture minister Wolfram Weimer's office confirmed to AFP that an extraordinary supervisory board meeting of the KBB will be held Thursday to discuss "the direction of the Berlinale", but said it would "not comment on further speculation".

Speaking in parliament, Weimer, chairman of the KBB supervisory board, himself countered press speculation that a decision had already been made to dismiss Tuttle, according to a parliamentary newsletter. It paraphrased him as saying that not everything that was being written was true.

According to Bild, Tuttle, 56, is being sacked over the director's comments. The newspaper also published a photo in which Tuttle posed with members of his film crew who were wearing Palestinian scarves and holding a Palestinian flag.

Germany, in an effort to atone for the horrors of the Holocaust, has been a steadfast supporter of Israel in the post-war era, and criticism of Israel's conduct in Gaza has been more muted in Germany than in many other countries.

Khatib, who won the Best First Feature Award for "Chronicles from the Siege", charged that the German government "are partners in the genocide in Gaza by Israel. I believe you are intelligent enough to recognise this truth."

Environment Minister Carsten Schneider, the only member of the German government attending the ceremony, walked out over what he labelled the "unacceptable" remarks.

More than 80 film professionals criticised the Berlinale's "silence" on the war in Gaza in an open letter, accusing the festival of censoring artists "who reject the genocide" they believe Israel has committed in Gaza.

Award-winning Indian writer Arundhati Roy withdrew from the festival after the jury president, German director Wim Wenders, said cinema should "stay out of politics" when asked about Gaza.