Israeli director Tom Shoval (Letter to David) has lent his support to the growing chorus of film industry voices in support of beleaguered Berlin Film Festival director Tricia Tuttle.
“I believe in the festival and in Tricia,” Shoval tells The Hollywood Reporter. “She’s been doing an incredible job under impossible conditions. She’s not the one who should be under fire.”
Hundreds of directors and actors have rallied in support of Tuttle in response to media reports that she could be fired after controversy erupted over pro-Palestinian speeches at Saturday’s closing gala, one of which accused the German government of being “partners in the genocide.”
Germany’s culture minister, Wolfram Weimer, convened a crisis meeting on Thursday with Tuttle and the festival’s supervisory board to discuss the “future direction of the Berlinale.” Weimer’s office issued a brief statement following the meeting, saying only that discussions “about the direction of the Berlinale will continue in the coming days.”
Tuttle’s future at the festival, where she is two years into a five-year contract, remains uncertain.
The American festival director came under fire from conservative media in Germany after Saturday’s Berlinale award ceremony. Syrian-Palestinian director Abdallah al-Khatib, who won the best first feature award for his drama Chronicles From the Siege, used his acceptance speech to criticize Israel and Germany sharply. German tabloid Bild also took offense over a picture, taken a week earlier, that showed Tuttle posing with al-Khatib’s film team, several of whom were wearing keffiyeh scarves, with one holding a Palestinian flag. As the Berlinale noted, the festival director commonly takes pictures with the film crews during the festival.
Shoval attended the Berlinale this year with a recut version of his documentary A Letter to David, his tribute to actor friend David Cunio, who was taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7 and only recently released. The first version of A Letter to David screened at the Berlinale last year, Tuttle’s first year in charge.
“The Trisha that I met and talked to was somebody with a lot of integrity and human instinct,” Shoval tells THR. “She saw the suffering of [David’s] family. She kept the political thing aside and was willing to do whatever it takes to bring the film to the Berlinale, to screen it, to create awareness, but also to give us a safe place to to talk about to talk about art, but also to talk about David without feeling attacked.”
As head of the Berlinale, Tuttle has “a vision of trying to bring the Berlinale back to what it used to be, a platform where everybody can say whatever they want and feel safe to do so,” he adds.
While the comments made by Al-Khatib and others at this year’s awards “might be uneasy to hear,” he says, “I don’t think it’s the whole story of the Berlinale.”
Nearly 700 filmmakers, including Hollywood luminaries Tilda Swinton, Sean Baker and Todd Haynes, signed a petition backing Tuttle. Other signatories include Germany’s Ilker Çatak, whose drama, Yellow Letters, about the threat to artistic freedom under an authoritarian government — set in Turkey but shot in Germany — won the Berlinale’s 2026 Golden Bear for best film.
The German and European film academies, the Jerusalem and Haifa film festivals, and some 500 Berlinale staff members have also thrown their support behind Tuttle.
“I really hope Tricia stays in her position,” says Shoval. “I know that’s even if she stays, she’s now under a lot of pressure, but I think she’s the person to handle it. Her integrity is very important to the festival. I think she needs all the help she can get.”
