In a further vote, Arsenal artistic director Stefanie Schulte Strathaus was elected to the FIAF board of directors together with other new members. The board now comprises:
President: Peter Bagrov (George Eastman Museum, Rochester), General secretary: Tiago Baptista (Cinemateca Portuguesa, Lisbon), Treasurer: Cecilia Cenciarelli (Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, Bologna). Members: Sanchai Chotirosseranee (Film Archive – Public Organization, Bangkok), Caroline Fournier (Cinémathèque suisse, Lausanne), Elisa Jochum (Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen, Berlin), Heather Linville (Library of Congress – National Audio-Visual Conservation Centre, Culpeper), Arike Oke (BFI National Archive, London), György Raduly (National Film Institute Hungary – Film Archive, Budapest), Stefanie Schulte Strathaus (Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art, Berlin). Associate members: Ricardo Cantor Bossa (Cinemateca de Bogotá, Bogotá), Drika de Oliveira (Cinemateca do Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro), Léonce Tira (Cinémathèque Africaine de Ouagadougou – FESPACO, Ouagadougou).
Since its foundation in 1938, FIAF has been dedicated to preserving worldwide film heritage and making it accessible to audiences. It brings together the world’s leading non-profit institutions in this field and has developed into the most important global network of cinematheques and film archives. Its members are committed to rescuing, collecting, securing, screening and disseminating films regarded as both artistic and cultural commodities and historical documents. In May 2025, FIAF comprises 184 institutions in 80 countries – an indication of the extent to which film heritage has become a matter of international importance.
Being a member fosters international collaboration and the exchange of ideas and resources. By recognizing Arsenal as a full member, the FIAF community is honoring the achievements carried out by Arsenal, which has in the last year both improved its storage facilities and made considerable progress in preserving its own film holdings and making them accessible through digitizations and restorations. Funding from the Lotto Stiftung Berlin was used to install an air conditioning and ventilation system in the archive rooms. Arsenal’s commitment to supporting film archives in countries lacking sufficient structures via collaborations and training opportunities was also highlighted.
Since it was founded as an association in 1963, Arsenal has collected around 9500 analogue and 6400 digital films from the field of independent cinema worldwide, including German-subtitled prints from the Berlinale Forum program and numerous unique prints that are being progressively digitized and returned to their countries of origin.
With “Living Archive”, Arsenal has established a concept that grasps archival work as a collaborative practice: digitization and restoration projects are always developed and implemented as part of regional and transnational partnerships. Measures to preserve archive films and make them accessible to audiences stand in close relation here to contemporary film programming work and academic and artistic research.
Arsenal’s full FIAF membership comes at a time that marks a new stage in the history in the institution, which was founded in 1963: from 2026, Arsenal will be bringing together all its spheres of activity (cinema, Berlinale Forum and Forum Expanded, distribution, film education and archive work) under one roof at silent green Kulturquartier in Berlin-Wedding.
