Matthijs Wouter Knol

Source: Berlinale/Angela Regenbrecht

Matthijs Wouter Knol

Matthijs Wouter Knol, director of the European Film Academy (EFA), has stepped down as one of three directors of anti-racism taskforce Artef, following the latter group’s criticism of Norwegian animation Just Super over alleged Blackface, which led to the withdrawal of the film’s international premiere at the Berlinale.

Wouter Knol stepped down both from his Artef director role and the nine-member steering group “with immediate effect” on March 11, according to EFA.

“I hope that any perceived conflict of interest will be eliminated by this action,” Wouter Knol has told Screen. “It was time to clarify confusion, as I was wearing two different hats until recently, two hats that formally had nothing to do with each other – but seemed more and more difficult to combine.

“I’ve realised that it can be difficult for an organisation like Artef to have stakeholders that have other representative roles within the film industry. It seems this is being used to distract from what could be a fruitful discussion in the industry.”

The Norwegian Film Institute (NFI), which funded Just Super, said at the time that it “strongly objects” to the racism allegations. It sent a letter to Artef on March 9, stating it is “deeply concerned about the implications this incident might have for the artistic freedom of filmmakers, and the editorial freedom and independence of international film festivals.”

The letter invited “the organisations behind Artef, and the European film community, to dialogue to avoid future similar situations.”

It also highlighted that, by its own statement from the steering committee, Artef is “not a watchdog” and was formed to “to work with institutions, organisations, companies and networks – not against them.”

“We as the European Film Academy welcome a much-needed open conversation, focusing on the recent events,” said Wouter Knol, who signed a letter on March 11 welcoming this dialogue, alongside EFA chair Mike Downey and deputy chair Rebecca O’Brien. “This conversation could and should be instrumental in building positive structures for future conversations.”

A practical step would be making Artef entirely independent of other industry bodies, said the EFA director.

“Currently it depends on volunteers from that very industry. It’s too easy to attack individuals for addressing complex questions that come up. It feels like shooting the messenger,” said Wouter Knol. “Instead, we should do what we are strong at in Europe: sitting together and speaking. We should be able to speak openly, help each other to find ways to go forward, show respect and keep the European film industry a sector that can tackle complex issues, and improve our work together. With dialogue this can happen.”

Formed in summer 2020, the Anti-Racism Rask Force for European Film (Artef) had contacted the Berlinale on Sunday, February 19, outlining concerns about what it saw as “depictions of Blackface and animalisation of Black People”, the day before the film’s scheduled international premiere.

The first Berlinale screening of Just Super was then cancelled nine minutes before it was due to start, in agreement with production company Qvisten Animation. Subsequent screenings went ahead that week, with a message before the film “contextualising” the Blackface concerns, provided by the festival.

NFI letter

In its three-page letter of March 9, the NFI laid out the chain of events that occurred during the festival, highlighting its early support of Artef, and its “surprise” at only being approached regarding Artef’s concerns 48 hours prior to the film’s Berlinale screening.

“Since the film’s opening in Norway in September 2022, 110,000 children and parents have seen the film in Norwegian cinemas,” states the letter. “Neither the producers nor NFI has received any negative reactions regarding the content or depictions in the film. The press screening in Berlin in January 2023 caused no negative reactions or concerns.”

The NFI letter went on to pose three questions it had about the process: what mandate did the Artef directors act on when sending the initial letter and subsequently trying to pressure the Berlinale to cancel the screening; were the members of the Artef steering committee acting as individuals or as representatives of their organisations; and did the European Film Academy, as a founding body, support the action to stop the screening of a film selected for an international film festival.

It also raised concerns about the effect of the incident on festival programming in the future. “In our view, the threshold should be extremely high for pulling a film from the program and cancelling the premiere, which happened at the Berlinale.

“We are also concerned that one of the effects of the events at this year’s Berlinale, can be that programmers become hesitant to program potentially controversial films in fear of being targeted by activist interest groups. Artef, judged by the actions at this year’s Berlinale, comes across as an activist group and a watchdog, despite claiming otherwise.

“Freedom of speech has its limits, of course. But the basic principle should be to show the work and then engage in discussions about it afterward.”

Screen has contacted the Berlinale for comment.