Tilda Swinton praised the Berlinale Initiative for Israelboykott

“I am a great admirer of BDS and have great respect for it, and I think a lot about it,” said the 64-year-old at a press conference of the Berlinale. BDS had shared a boycott call against the Berlinale on its Instagram page a few weeks ago.

“I decided that it was more important to me,” said Swinton. “Thanks to the festival, I was offered a platform that I have today, and I decided in a personal moment that this may be more useful for our all concerns than my non -appearance.”

Swinton: Boykott can “very often” be the strongest

Swinton was honored for their life’s work at the Berlinale opening gala. In her acceptance speech, she said on Thursday evening: “The mass murder committed by the state and enabled mass murder is currently more than active in part of our world. Convicted of exactly the bodies that people were specially launched for monitoring things on earth that are unacceptable for the human community. ”

However, she did not explicitly refer to Israel – and also said on Friday that she not only mean the Gaza war, but “all wars”. With regard to BDS, she stated: “I have enormous respect and understanding that people have to find ways to be powerful, because we all have to struggle with this feeling of powerlessness.”

“And so every powerful action, every gesture that we can do, feels like a good option.” She understands that a boycott can very often be the strongest “what we can do.”