20th Berlin International Film Festival

The 20th annual Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale, was opened on 26 June 1970 with French-Belgian film Klann – grand guignol by Patrick Ledoux and scheduled to end on 7 July. However, on 5 July the competition was cancelled and no major prizes were awarded owing to a controversy surrounding the participation of Michael Verhoeven's West-German anti-war film o.k.

The film was controversial for reenacting the 1966 Incident on Hill 192 of the Vietnam War in the Bavarian forest. It depicted four American soldiers kidnapping, raping, stabbing and shooting a Vietnamese girl named Mao until she finally dies. A fifth soldier on the patrol refuses to take part in the attack on the girl and his report to his commander is buried in the files. The film was claimed to be anti-American by the American film director George Stevens.