MMore than two hundred filmmakers from all over the world have written an open letter showing their solidarity with Carlo Chatrian, the artistic director of the Berlinale, and protesting sharply against his quasi-expulsion. Signatories include Martin Scorsese and Olivier Assayas, Radu Jude and Claire Denis, Margarethe von Trotta and Christian Petzold. The way in which Chatrian was pushed out by the Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth was “destructive, unprofessional and immoral”.
The letter goes on to say that Chatrian may not be a great showman; but that his calm and competent manner, his openness and his feeling for new ways of cinema would have done the festival very well.
Chatrian is also praised for keeping the whole festival alive despite the pandemic. He should therefore be praised and rewarded for what he has achieved. Instead, he is dumped, almost forced to leave.
And all this is happening, although there is no indication anywhere that Claudia Roth could name a better successor. Roth announced last week that one person, an artistic director, would be in charge of the Berlinale. And that this person is not Chatrian.
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