Volodymyr Zelenskyj of Ukraine delivers impassioned opening speech in Berlin; Sean Penn says the will of the people ‘only gets stronger’

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered a powerful live video message to attendees at the opening night of the 73rd edition of the Berlin Film Festival on Thursday, urging filmmakers and culture to “not stay silent” when it comes to global politics as his country approaches a year since the Russian invasion.

Zelenskyy, who has made video appearances at prominent film festivals such as Cannes and Venice, received a standing ovation from delegates including Anne Hathaway, Peter Dinklage, Sean Penn and Berlinale judge Kristen Stewart when he appeared on screen at the Berlinale this evening Palast appeared.

The president of Ukraine drew attention to the power of film in times of political turmoil, citing Wim Wenders’ 1987 wings of longing as a project that “broke the Berlin Wall two years before it actually fell in the remarkable film that came to Berlin, where the divided city is united by angels flying freely over the Wall.”

He noted that while the city of Berlin once had “a wall and emptiness… now life flourishes and the heart of the Berlinale beats”. He pointed out that Potsdamer Platz, the center of the Berliner Festspiele, once “divided the free world and the totalitarian world”.

“It’s not just about state borders on the map,” he continued. “The wall separated different worldviews and different philosophies.”

“Today Russia wants to build the same wall in Ukraine – the wall between us and Europe to separate Ukraine from its own choice and future, a wall between freedom and slavery.”

The local connection was well received by both the local audience and the international film community, without leaving a dry eye in the house. Penn, who is in town with his feature film super powerwatched admiringly from the podium where he introduced Zelenskyj.

Screening as part of the Berlinale Specials, the actor-director’s documentary chronicles Zelenskyy and the efforts on the ground in Ukraine at the start of the Russian invasion nearly a year ago.

Penn said super power was “originally the quirky story of a comic actor turned president” who “wrote himself into something completely different.” After spending a lot of time in Ukraine and starting filming on February 24, 2022, the day Russia invaded Ukraine, Penn noted that nothing has changed in the will of the Ukrainian people in the past year, that’s for sure – at least it only got stronger.

“Can art be outside of politics? Should the film be out of politics? This is an eternal question, but today it is extremely relevant,” Zelenskyy said, adding that “cinema creates change.”

Politics and culture have long been closely intertwined at the Berlinale, and this year’s opening ceremony once again offers a good portion of political statements and glamour. German politicians such as Berlin mayor Franziska Giffey and cultural affairs director Claudia Roth were present, the latter expressing Germany’s solidarity with women in Iran and Afghanistan.

“We stand with you and with the men who support you and who support you in your fight for freedom and liberty,” she said. “We stand with the women who want their lives back – a free, self-determined life, not a situation and existence controlled and subjugated by the underclass.”

The festival kicks off tonight with the world premiere of the American title she came to me by director and screenwriter Rebecca Miller. The romantic comedy stars Dinklage, Tomei, Joanna Kulig, Brian d’Arcy James and Hathaway. The film features composer Steven Lauddem (Dinklage) who has come to a creative standstill and is unable to complete the score for his grand comeback opera. At the behest of his wife (Hathaway), his former therapist, he goes in search of inspiration.

Before the ceremony, members of the student climate activist group The Last Generation strolled the red carpet, but did not interrupt those in attendance.

The Berlin Film Festival runs from 16 to 26 February.