Tilda Swinton has given a speech at the Berlin film festival in which she called out the “the astonishing savagery of spite, state-perpetrated and internationally enabled mass murder”.
Swinton was speaking after being awarded a Golden Bear for lifetime achievement at the festival, and without naming Ukraine, Gaza – or Donald Trump – excoriated what she called “our greed-addicted governments”. In remarks reported by the Hollywood Reporter, Swinton took aim at the “entitled domination and the astonishing savagery of spite, state-perpetrated and internationally enabled mass murder … unacceptable to human society”.
She added: “These are facts. They need to be faced. So for the sake of clarity, let’s name it. The inhumane is being perpetrated on our watch. I’m here to name it without hesitation or doubt in my mind, and to lend my unwavering solidarity to all those who recognise the unacceptable complacency of our greed-addicted governments who make nice with planet wreckers and war criminals, wherever they come from.”
Swinton also made a more explicit jab at Trump’s plan to redevelop Gaza as a coastal resort, by praising independent cinema as “an unlimited realm, innately inclusive, immune to efforts of occupation, colonisation, takeover, ownership or the development of riviera property”.
Swinton’s speech followed a vigil that took place at the opening ceremony in support of Israeli actor David Cunio, who was taken hostage in the 7 October attack on Israel and is yet to be released. The festival’s artistic director Tricia Tuttle joined actors Christian Berkel, Andrea Sawatzki, and Ulrich Matthes in holding up a photo of Cunio, with a documentary about Cunio, called A Letter to David, due to receive its world premiere at the festival.
Berlin’s 2024 edition was dogged by controversy over the Gaza conflict, with participants in the awards ceremony condemning Israel and calling for a ceasefire, followed by German politicians attacking the festival and Germany’s culture minister Claudia Roth describing the protests as “shockingly one-sided and characterised by deep hatred of Israel”. Tuttle later said that the controversy had meant that some film-makers were “questioning whether they want to come” to the festival over fears of censorship.
At a press conference following her Golden Bear award, Swinton said that she had not heeded the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign group’s call to boycott the festival after the 2024 protests as it would be “more useful” for her to attend. She said: “I’m a great admirer of and have a great deal of respect for BDS and I think about it a lot … I am here today – and yesterday and tomorrow and the next day – because I decided to come, I decided it was more important for me to come. I was given, thanks to the festival, a platform which I decided in a personal moment was potentially more useful to all our causes than me not turning up. It was a personal judgment call, that I take full responsibility for.”
