Afro-German Film Collective Publishes Open Letter Raising Concerns About “Anti-Black” Berlinale Titles
deadline.comA collective of Afro-German filmmakers and industry professionals have published an open letter raising concerns about what they have described as the selection of anti-Black films at the recent Berlin Film Festival.
The group, represented under the title Schwarze Filmschaffende, which loosely translates to Black Filmmakers, identifies three Berlinale titles — Measures of Men, Seneca, and Helt Super! — as projects that depict, amplify, or peddle anti-Black sentiments.
The letter is addressed to the German Minister for Culture and Media, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media, Berlinale artistic directors Mariëtte Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian, and the German Film Academy.
Opening the letter, the group note that they not only aim to “denounce the existence and handling of these offensive, racist films” but also want to challenge the “systemic errors and the structural anti-Black racism embedded in the German film ecosystem.” “As Black Europeans, we are therefore deeply concerned and affected by the selection, endorsement, and support of these three anti-Black films, two of which are German (co-)productions, which were (co-)financed by German film funds, nominated by the German Film Academy and finally selected and shown at the latest 73rd edition of the Berlinale,” the letter reads.
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