The Delphi Table 1971–1989

Since 1971, Arsenal has organized the Forum section of the Berlinale. For decades, the discussions in Delphi Cinema were legendary: When a film ended, a table was carried onto the stage and a moderator, in most cases a translator, and of course the filmmaker would sit down to take audience questions, with sometimes very heated discussions ensuing. Occasionally, there were group discussions, about experimental film or in connection with a country’s political crisis. Almost all the discussions were recorded, at first on reel-to-reel tape and later on cassette. 

In the 1990s, discussions at Arsenal Cinema outside of the Berlinale began to be recorded, a practice that continues to this day. During the lockdown, Arsenal projectionists digitized these recordings. The result is an archive that not only says something about the reception history of hundreds of films, but above all about cinema as a social space, a space for discourse, and about film talks as a cultural technique that has drastically changed over the decades. At migas, a listening bar, a two-hour audio montage will be played, giving an impression of debate culture in the 1970s and 1980s.

Edited and compiled by Vali Djordjevic and Stefanie Schulte Strathaus.

Table of Content

1 1974 Discussion about the film ALLEIN MACHEN SIE DICH EIN (BRD 1973) with the Georg-von-Rauch-Haus collective. Language: German. 

2 1974 Statement on the imprisonment of director Pantelis Voulgaris and others in Greece. Languages: French, German. 

3 1974 Declaration on the situation of South American filmmakers after the coup d’état in Chile 1973. Directors present: Carlos Ortiz Tejeda (CONTRA LA RAZON Y POR LA FUERZA, Mexico 1973), Raul Ruiz (LA EXPROPIACION, Chile 1972) and Miguel Littin (LA TIERRA PROMETIDA, Chile 1973). Languages: Spanish, German. 

4 1977 Discussion about the film MABABANGONG BANGUNGOT (PERFUMED NIGHTMARE, Philippines 1977) with the director Kidlat Tahimik. Languages: English, German.

5 1977 Discussion about the film CEDDO (Senegal 1976) with the director Ousmane Sembene. Languages: French, German. 

6 1979 Discussion about the film MATERNALE (Italy 1977/78) with the director Giovanna Gagliardo. Languages: Italian, German. 

7 1979 Discussion about the film FAD, JAL (Senegal 1979) with the director Safi Faye. Languages: French, German. 

8 1985 A statement by the striking miners in England before the start of the film WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? by Ken Loach (UK 1985). Languages: German. 

9 1987 Discussion about the film ARE WE WINNING, MOMMY? AMERICA AND THE COLD WAR (USA/Kanada/England/ Schweden 1986) with the director Barbara Margolis. Languages: English, German. 

10 1987 Discussion about the film SARRAOUNIA (Burkina Faso/France 1986) with the director Med Hondo. Languages: French, German. 

11 1988 Discussion about the Korean film movement “Open Film” or “Open Cinema” with Kim, Yun-Tae and director Kim, Tae-Young (KANTSSI UI PALPYOHOE (The Exhibition of Mister Kant), Korea 1987). Languages: Korean, German. 

12 1989 Statement of about film censorship in schools in Berlin read before the film AMOR AMÉRICA by Ciro Cappellari (Argentinien/BR Deutschland 1989). Language: German.