Tricia Tuttle Backed By 32 Global Film Festival Bosses in Open Letter
Global film festival bosses, including Cannes’ Thierry Frémaux and Sundance‘s Eugene Hernandez, have published a statement throwing their support behind Berlinale boss Tricia Tuttle.
“We stand in support of Tricia Tuttle’s wish to continue as Berlinale Festival Director, in full trust and with institutional independence,” began the letter signed by 32 execs at the helm of the world’s most prestigious film festivals, from London and Telluride to Toronto and San Sebastian.
The statement comes amid German media reports that Tuttle is about to be fired following political backlash over pro-Palestinian speeches at the Berlinale awards ceremony. This, in turn, follows a politically charged 2026 edition of the film fest, where talent were bombarded with questions on the rise of fascism, the war in Gaza, and the Trump administration.
Speaking to the German press, Tuttle admitted she and German culture minister Wolfram Weimer “discussed the possibility of my mutual resignation” at a meeting of the festival’s supervisory board last week but that she is determined to stay on the job. “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 told German press agency dpa.
The letter from festival bosses says “we are required to navigate 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. And 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.”
“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,” continued the letter.
The letter ended: “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.”
The statement is signed by: Kristy Matheson (London Film Festival), Jung Hanseok (Busan International Film Festival), Ellen Y. D. Kim (Asian Contents & Film Market), Karen Park (Busan International Film Festival), Thierry Frémaux, (Cannes Film Festival), Christian Jeune (Cannes Film Festival), Amr Mansi (El Gouna Film Festival), Ilda Santiago (Festival do Rio), Pia Lundberg (Göteborg Film Festival), Mirja Wester (Göteborg Film Festival), Vanja Kaludjercic (International Film Festival Rotterdam), Clare Stewart (International Film Festival Rotterdam), Karel Och (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival), Kryštof Mucha (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival), Giona A. Nazzaro (Locarno Film Festival), Damien Hodgkinson (Melbourne International Film Festival), Al Cossar (Melbourne International Film Festival), Daniela Michel (Morelia Film Festival), Roman Gutek (Head of New Horizons Association), Dorota Lech (New Horizons International Film Festival), José Luis Rebordinos (San Sebastian International Film Festival), Maialen Beloki, Lucía Olaciregui (San Sebastian International Film Festival), Jovan Marjanović (Sarajevo Film Festival), Renata de Almeida (São Paulo International Film Festival), Eugene Hernandez (Sundance Film Festival), Kim Yutani (Sundance Film Festival), Nashen Moodley (Sydney Film Festival), Frances Wallace (Sydney Film Festival), Julie Huntsinger (Telluride Film Festival), Cameron Bailey (Toronto International Film Festival), Anita Lee (Toronto International Film Festival), and Shozo Ichiyama (Tokyo International Film Festival).
Read the letter in full, below. The Hollywood Reporter‘s deep dive on Tuttle’s turmoil is here.
As film festival directors and leaders, we stand in support of Tricia Tuttle’s wish to continue as Berlinale Festival Director, in full trust and with institutional independence.
In the debates that have surrounded the 2026 Berlinale and other cultural and artistic events in preceding months, 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. This is what gives our film festivals their vitality, relevance and value, and it is what festival ‘spirit’ is made from.
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. And 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.
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.
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.
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