Arundhati Roy pulls out of Berlin Film Festival over jury's ‘unconscionable’ remarks on Gaza: ‘Jaw-dropping’

Indian writer Arundhati Roy said Friday she was cancelling her planned participation in the Berlin Film Festival over comments from jury president Wim Wenders that the festival had to "stay out of politics".

In a statement sent to AFP , the Booker Prize-winning author said that she was "shocked and disgusted" by the celebrated German director's response to a question on war-torn Gaza at a press conference on Thursday.

She reportedly said, "With deep regret, I must say that I will not be attending the Berlinale."

According to Variety, Roy was due to present her 1989 campus comedy “In Which Annie Give It Those Ones” as part of the Classics section.

She reportedly said she will no longer be attending, citing the “unconscionable statements” made by members of jury when asked to comment about Gaza.

“But we are the counterweight of politics, we are the opposite of politics. We have to do the work of people, not the work of politicians,” he was quoted by Variety as saying.

She was quoted as saying: “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.”

"'In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones,’ a whimsical film that I wrote 38 years ago, was selected to be screened under the Classics section at the Berlinale 2026. There was something sweet and wonderful about this for me.

Although I have been profoundly disturbed by the positions taken by the German government and various German cultural institutions on Palestine, I have always received political solidarity when I have spoken to German audiences about my views on the genocide in Gaza. This is what made it possible for me to think of attending the screening of Annie at the Berlinale.

This morning, like millions of people across the world, I heard the unconscionable statements made by members of the jury of the Berlin film festival when they were asked to comment about the genocide in Gaza. 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 film makers should be doing everything in their power to stop it.

Let me say this clearly: what has happened in Gaza, what continues to happen, is a genocide of the Palestinian people by the State of Israel. It is supported and funded by the governments of the United States and Germany, as well as several other countries in Europe, which makes them complicit in the crime.

If the greatest film makers and artists of our time cannot stand up and say so, they should know that history will judge them. I am shocked and disgusted.

With deep regret, I must say that I will not be attending the Berlinale.

Arundhati Roy"