Commmando Action

Prominent Indian writer Arundhati Roy has canceled her planned attendance at the Berlin International Film Festival, saying her withdrawal comes in response to "unconscionable statements" made by the jury and its president, Wim Wenders, about the Gaza Strip.

"With deep regret, I must say that I will not be attending the Berlinale," Roy wrote in a statement issued by her publisher on Friday.

At a press conference, jury members were asked to comment on the festival's position on the conflict in Gaza.

A journalist had accused the festival of showing solidarity with Ukrainians and Iranians but not with Palestinians.

Jury president Wenders responded, "We cannot really enter the field of politics," and described filmmakers as "the counterweight to politics."

In Roy's statement, she wrote that "[to] hear them say that art should not be political is jaw-dropping."

"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."

📸: imago

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