Berlinale Director Tricia Tuttle said to be questioning her future

The director of the Berlinale, Tricia Tuttle, is questioning her future role at the world renowned film festival, German Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer told a German newspaper.

"She told me and my chief of staff on Tuesday that she could hardly continue to run the Berlinale in this poisoned atmosphere and its political tensions," Weimer told the Rheinische Post newspaper.

During this year's Berlin International Film Festival there were several controversies centring on the Middle East conflict.

The Syrian-Palestinian director Abdallah Al-Khatib accused the German government on stage of being a partner to "genocide in the Gaza Strip," which led to Environment Minister Carsten Schneider's walking out of the event and declaring that the statements were "unacceptable."

Israel's government denies committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, and the German government also rejects the accusation.

A few days after the end of the film festival, the Bild newspaper reported that Tuttle was to be dismissed.

Weimer then convened an extraordinary meeting of the film festival's supervisory board last Thursday, prompting a broad protest in the cultural sector.

Tuttle, who is American, has headed the Berlinale for two years and has not yet publicly commented on the events. 

When asked whether he wanted to get rid of Tuttle because of the incidents, Weimer told the Rheinische Post that "the widespread criticism of the events should not be aimed at her personally."

He said the problem was bigger than one individual. "Political activists have negatively overshadowed the festival and downright poisoned the atmosphere with their actions."

The leadership of the festival - Tuttle and the renowned film director Wim Wenders - had shown "commitment and integrity," which, he said, "deserves respect."

Weimer said that a supervisory board meeting with Tuttle is planned for the middle of the week.