Shoe on head February 18, 2026 11:20 PM
Member since February 17, 2026
h t t p s : / / w w w . m i d d l e e a s t e y e . n e t / n e w s / m o r e - 8 0 - f i l m m a k e r s - d e n o u n c e - c e n s o r s h i p - o v e r - g a z a - b e r l i n a l e
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/more-80-filmmakers-denounce-censorship-over-gaza-berlinale
Thoughts?

1. Intentionally broken link (I fixed it).

REPORTED
for off-topic spam.
3. Forwarded to our slouch hats. ️​

More than 80 filmmakers have signed an open letter to the Berlin International Film Festival (better known as Berlinale) criticising the German festival's stance on Gaza.
The signatories, including Tilda Swinton, Javier Bardem, Mike Leigh, Adam McKay and Avi Mograbi, accused the organiser of "censorship" over the issue and engaging in efforts to "silence" those discussing the issue.
"Last year, filmmakers who spoke out for Palestinian life and liberty from the Berlinale stage reported being aggressively reprimanded by senior festival programmers," read the letter.
"One filmmaker was reported ​t​o have been investigated by police, and Berlinale leadership falsely implied that ​t​he filmmaker’s moving speech - rooted in international law and solidarity - was 'discriminatory.'"
The new letter largely comes in response to comments made by German filmmaker Wim Wenders, who is also this year's jury head, in which he suggested that filmmaking should not be directly political.
Wenders, who began his career in the 1970s as part of the often explicitly left-wing New German Cinema movement, told a press conference last week that they had to "stay out of politics because if we make movies that are dedicatedly political, we enter the field of politics".
"But we are the counterweight of politics, we are the opposite of politics. We have to do the work of people, not the work of politicians," he said.
Asked about Germany's support for Israel's genocide in Gaza, another jury member Ewa Puszczynska said it was an "unfair" question and said there were "many other wars where genocide is committed, and we do not talk about that".
Award-winning Indian author Arundhati Roy said she was pulling out of the festival over the comments, and there has been further concern over the event's funding, which comes from the German government.
Others accused Wenders of hypocrisy, pointing to his directly contradictory comments about the festival in 2024, in which he said Berlinale had "traditionally always been the most political of the major festivals, it doesn't stay out of things now, and it won't in the future either… I like the Berlinale because it always speaks up and says something".
Continuing controversy
More than 200 films will be shown over the 10 days of the festival, of which 22 will be in competition for the Golden Bear, the top prize.
At a fringe event on Wednesday not directly connected to the festival, the director of The Voice of Hind Rajab also spoke out against German indifference to Palestinian suffering and complicity with Israel.
At the Cinema for Peace gala in Berlin, attended by former US Vice President Hillary Clinton and hosted by musician Bob Geldof, Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania rejected the “most valuable film” prize during the ceremony at the Adlon Hotel.
Ben Hania, whose film chronicles efforts to save Hind Rajab, a young Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, criticised the decision to hand an honorary award to Noam Tibon, the former Israeli general featured in the Canadian documentary The Road Between Us.
“What happened to Hind is not an exception. It’s a part of a genocide. And tonight, in Berlin, there are people who gave political cover to that genocide by reframing the mass civilian killing as self-defence, as complex circumstances. By denigrating those who protest,” she said.
“But as you may know, peace is not a perfume sprayed over violence, so power can feel refined, and can feel comfortable. And cinema is not image-laundering.”
It is not the first time the Berlinale has faced controversy over Gaza.
The 2024 Berlinale faced outcry over the (later withdrawn) opening ceremony invitation for the far-right party Alternative fur Deutschland (AFD), and was branded "one-sided" and "antisemitic" by various German officials over comments made by the award-winning Israeli filmmaker Yuval Abraham.
Abraham's documentary No Other Land, which he co-directed with Basel Adra, a Palestinian from Masafer Yatta, depicted the Israeli state-sanctioned destruction of a small Palestinian community in the occupied West Bank.
"I am living under a civilian law and Basel is under military law," Abraham said in his acceptance speech.
"I have voting rights; Basel [does not have] voting rights. I'm free to move where I want in this land; Basel is, like millions of Palestinians, locked in the occupied West Bank."
There was further outcry after German Culture Minister Claudia Roth claimed she had only clapped for a speech by Abraham, and not Adra. The film later won an Oscar.
h t t p s : / / w w w . m i d d l e e a s t e y e . n e t / n e w s / m o r e - 8 0 - f i l m m a k e r s - d e n o u n c e - c e n s o r s h i p - o v e r - g a z a - b e r l i n a l e
Thoughts?

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RodgeK February 01, 2026 08:25 PM
Member since January 21, 2024
That looks like the United States side, which has less water coming over.
I'd be surprised if the Canadian side froze over since it's much larger.
I don't know either, but later Canada took action.
From the article in my OP:
Since 1964, a complete freezing of the American Falls is virtually impossible.
To prevent ice from Lake Erie drifting down the Niagara River and damaging bridges, Canadian authorities installed the
"Ice Boom"
, a 2.7-kilometer-long barrier of floating steel pontoons between the cities of Fort Erie and Buffalo that holds back the ice.
This video allegedly shows the Canadian side 2 years earlier:
1934 Niagara Falls Frozen Over
Several shots of the frozen falls seen from the Canadian side.

That looks like the United States side, which has less water coming over. I'd be surprised if the Canadian side froze over since it's much larger.

Drifting for Hours on an Ice Floe in the Baltic Sea ​🧊​ Dramatic Rescue at Night
In a dramatic rescue operation, the crew of the Latvian icebreaker
"Varma"
saved 2 people from the icy Baltic Sea. The 2 ice skaters were swept out to sea on a breaking ice floe on Saturday evening.
The moment of rescue.
The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) received a distress call around 20:00 p.m.
The victims were near Plieņciems when the ice beneath them suddenly gave way.
Icebreaker Varma deployed overnight
Due to the imminent danger to life, authorities immediately launched a comprehensive search operation. The icebreaker
"Varma"
was approximately 35 kilometers from the accident site and dispatched as the nearest available vessel.
According to official statements from the Riga Port Authority, the search proved extremely difficult. Complete darkness and massive ice drifts severely hampered the rescue vessel's navigation. Only after
5 intensive hours of searching were the rescue teams able to report success around 01:00 a.m.
and the 2 people were eventually brought safely aboard.
Happy Ending in the Port of Riga
The rescued people used their mobile phones to call for help and alert the rescuers.
They also used flashlights to signal their position to the ship in the darkness.
Around 03:00 a.m. the icebreaker reached the port of Riga. The hypothermic but alive individuals were immediately transferred to waiting medical personnel for treatment.
Kaspars Ozoliņš, head of LVR Flote, emphasized to the press the speed at which the ice can break up. The skaters had already been swept several kilometers out to sea from the coast. Authorities now issue urgent warnings against venturing onto the ice.
It's currently life-threatening and absolutely unsafe to be on the Baltic Sea ice.
https://www.nordisch.info/panorama/ueber-stunden-auf-eisscholle-in-ostsee-abgetrieben-dramatische-rettung-bei-nacht/
February 22, 2026
Perhaps
"floe hopping"
isn't such a good idea.
Halal Sunset Party on the Beach ​ Baltic Sea 🧊 Latvia

This message has been deleted.

soapbox original gangster January 30, 2026 03:05 AM
Member since October 31, 2021
niagara partially froze in 2015.
several hundred km to the west, parts of lake michigan froze.
i recall seeing waves stationary, entombed in ice.
Frozen Waves stuck in Time
Hamburg currently fights to get their harbour free with ice breakers. 🧊️​
Our mother told us, that one of their favourite children games was "Schollenhüpfen" (= floe hopping).
Of course forbidden, but that made it special fun.
I cannot remember that we (her children) ever had the chance for that
fun
.
Huge Chunks of Ice wash up on the Banks of Germany's Elbe River
(upload January 20, 2026)

niagara partially froze in 2015.
several hundred km to the west, parts of lake michigan froze. i recall seeing waves stationary, entombed in ice.