Walker Dialogue and Retrospective Series

The Walker Dialogue and Retrospective Series brings together some of the most innovative and influential filmmakers of our time with leading critics, writers, and historians.

The Walker Art Center’s Dialogue and Retrospective Series brings together some of the most innovative and influential filmmakers of our time with leading critics, writers, and historians. As we approach the 30th anniversary of this important program, we look back to the beginning. The series, which launched with support from the MacArthur Foundation from 1990–1993, was later funded by the Regis Foundation from 1994–2012 and continued with support from Myron and Anita Kunin. It provides an intimate space for directors and actors to discuss their creative process, influences, and body of work. Punctuated with film clips, anecdotes, and personal insights, these conversations take place in the state-of-the-art 340-seat Walker Cinema. In addition to the dialogue, a retrospective of the filmmaker’s work is shown, which sometimes includes screenings of rare and archival prints along with newer digital projections. Since the inaugural dialogue between Clint Eastwood and Richard Schickel in 1990, the series has hosted many guests, including international directors, American masters, independent visionaries, artists, auteurs, and leading screen actors in discussion with writers and critics who help shape the way we think about contemporary film.

Brief History

The Walker Dialogue and Retrospective Series initially emerged from the efforts of Film/Video curator Bruce Jenkins in the late 1980s to collaborate with the Director’s Guild of America (DGA) in celebration of its 50th anniversary. Before the generous funding of the MacArthur and Regis Foundations made regular events possible, Jenkins sought to create space for critical exploration of the medium and highlight the vast diversity of contemporary, experimental, and classical filmmakers. Working with DGA, he curated a series of four dialogues with directors Stanley Donen, Sam Fuller, Miloš Forman, and Martha Coolidge to share their work with Walker audiences. As a devoted film scholar, Jenkins commissioned written pieces to accompany these events, which were also distributed in printed programs to inspire critical conversation within the cinema space and beyond. The tradition of the dialogue series has now continued for 25 years.
The Dialogue and Retrospective Series emerged from Jenkins’s early mission and programming and continues today under the leadership and vision of current senior curator Sheryl Mousley. These events are often integrated into the department’s regional premieres and community engagement programs, bringing local audiences together in the Walker Cinema and throughout the community to experience innovative filmmaking and inspire love of the medium. Béla Tarr´s 2007 visit included a master class at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and projects at the University of Minnesota. In November 2013, Walker audiences also experienced the Midwest premiere of British artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen’s Twelve Years a Slave and an insightful dialogue between McQueen and Stuart Comer, MoMA’s chief curator of media and performance art. Through an archive of these recorded events on the Walker Channel have now replaced earlier pamphlets, the Dialogue and Retrospective Series continues the long tradition of community engagement, innovation, and critical discussion that is essential to the mission of the Moving Image Department and the Walker Art Center.

Past Dialogues

September 5, 1990
Clint Eastwood Directs
Dialogue: Clint Eastwood with Richard Schickel
Regional Premiere: White Hunter, Black Heart
November 10, 1990
Merchant Ivory Productions Re-viewed
Dialogue: James Ivory with David Sterritt
Benefit Preview: Mr. & Mrs. Bridge
February 23, 1991
Jodie Foster: Growing Up on Screen
Dialogue: Jodie Foster with B. Ruby Rich
Regional Premiere: The Silence of the Lambs
April 20, 1991
Produced by Pressman
Dialogue: Edward R. Pressman with Julie Salamon
Regional Premiere: Paris by Night
May 26, 1991
Keith Carradine: In Retrospect
Dialogue: Keith Carradine with Phil Anderson
Regional Premiere: The Bachelor and The Ballad of the Sad Café
July 8, 1991
John Sayles: From Alligators to Agitators
Dialogue: John Sayles with Jay Carr
Regional Premiere: City of Hope
August 6, 1991
Ken Burns: Imagining America
Dialogue: Ken Burns with Terrence Rafferty
Regional Premiere: E_mpire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio_
December 13, 1991
Wim Wenders: In the Course of Time
Dialogue: Wim Wenders with J. Hoberman
Preview Screening: Sis ans Ende der Welt (Until the End of the World)
February 29, 1992
Danny Glover: In Retrospect
Dialogue: Danny Glover with Armond White
April 25, 1992
Robert Altman: An American Maverick
Dialogue: Robert Altman with David Bordwell
Preview Screening: The Player
November 5, 1992
Marcel Ophüls: A Course in Resistance
Dialogue: Marcel Ophüls with Phillip Lopate
Regional Premiere: Novembertage: Stimmen und Wege (November Days)
February 6, 1993
Liv Ullmann: From Actor to Auteur
Dialogue: Liv Ullmann with Molly Haskell
Regional Premiere: Sophie
June 11, 1993
American Playhouse: A Tribute
Dialogue: Julie Dash with Lindsay Law
October 18, 1993
Chen Kaige: Fifth Generation Filmmaker
Dialogue: Chen Kaige with Amy Taubin
Regional Premiere: Ba wang bie ji (Farewell My Concubine)
February 4, 1994
On the Road with Jim Jarmusch
Dialogue: Jim Jarmusch with Jonathan Rosenbaum
February 3, 1995
Passion in Perspective: The Films of Jane Campion
Dialogue: Jane Campion with Richard Peña
June 9, 1995
Assertions of Resistance: The Films of Haile Gerima
Dialogue: Dialogue: Haile Gerima with Arthur Jafa
Regional Premiere: Sankofa
September 29, 1995
Agnieszka Holland: In Retrospect
Dialogue: Agnieszka Holland with Amy Taubin
Regional Premiere: Total Eclipse
February 3, 1996
The Brothers Quay: Alchemists of Animation
Dialogue: Timothy and Stephen Quay with Bruce Jenkins
Regional Premiere: Institute Benjamenta
June 6, 1996
Gordon Parks: In Retrospect
Dialogue: Gordon Parks with Susan Robeson
October 11, 1996
Tom Hanks: In Retrospect
Dialogue: Tom Hanks with Richard Schickel
November 2, 1996
Spike Lee: In Retrospect
Dialogue: Spike Lee with Elvis Mitchell
April 30, 1997
G Is for Greenaway
Dialogue: Peter Greenaway with Peter Wollen
Regional Premiere: The Pillow Book
October 3, 1997
Jessica Lange: In Retrospect
Dialogue: Jessica Lange with Molly Haskell
Regional Premiere: Cousin Bette
February 27, 1998
Abbas Kiarostami: In Retrospect
Dialogue: Dialogue: Abbas Kiarostami with Richard Peña
Regional Premiere: Ta’m e guilass (Taste of Cherry)
April 2, 1998
À propos de Denis Retrospective: Claire Denis
Regional Premiere: Nénette et Boni (Nénette and Boni)
November 5, 1998
And Now for Something Completely Different: The Films of Terry Gilliam
Dialogue: Terry Gilliam with Stuart Klawans
February 26, 1999
Stan Brakhage: The Art of Seeing
Dialogue: Stan Brakhage with Bruce Jenkins
World Premiere: The Earth Song of the Cricket
US Premiere: Birds of Paradise
April 30, 1999
The Great Ecstasy of the Filmmaker Herzog
Dialogue: Werner Herzog with Roger Ebert
Regional Premiere: Julianes Sturz in den Dschungel (Wings of Hope)
Special Publication: “Declaration of Minnesota Manifesto”
May 31, 2000
John Waters: Shock Value
Monologue: John Waters
June 29, 2000
Léos Carax: L’amour fou
Dialogue: Léos Carax with Kent Jones
Regional Premiere: Pola X
July 15, 2000 Doris Dörrie: Straight through the Heart
Dialogue: Doris Dörrie with Klaus Phillips
US Premiere: Erleuchtung garantiert (Enlightenment Guaranteed)
February 20, 2001
Agnès Varda, cine-writer
Dialogue: Agnès Varda with Bérénice Reynaud
Regional Premiere: Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse (The Gleaners and I)
September 29, 2001
Tales of the City: Hanif Kureishi’s Rough Guide to London
Dialogue: Hanif Kureishi with A.O. Scott
Regional Premiere: Intimacy
May 22, 2002 Filming to the Heart: Film Works by Heddy Honigmann
Dialogue: Heddy Honigmann with Michael Tortorello
Regional Premiere: Goede man, leve zoon (Good Husband, Dear Son)
February 28, 2003 Gus Van Sant: On the Road Again
Dialogue: Gus Van Sant with Scott Macaulay
Regional Premiere: Gerry
May 6, 2003
Matthew Barney: Cremaster Cycle
Dialogue: Matthew Barney with Richard Flood
Regional Premiere: Cremaster Cycle
November 21, 2003
Frederick Wiseman: A Sense of Place
Dialogue: Frederick Wiseman and Jim McKay
Regional Premiere: La dernière letter (The Last Letter)
February 6, 2004
Guy Maddin: Pages from a Filmmaker’s Diary
Dialogue: Guy Maddin and Elvis Mitchell
Regional Premiere: The Saddest Music in the World
November 20, 2004
Apichatpong Weerasethakul: New Language from Thailand
Dialogue: Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Chuck Stephens
Regional Premieres: Sud pralad (Tropical Malady) and Sud sanaeha (Blissfully Yours)
June 3, 2005
Alexander Payne: Sideways Glance at America
Dialogue: Alexander Payne and Kenneth Turan
December 13, 2005
Ang Lee with James Schamus: East Meets West
Dialogue: Ang Lee and James Schamus
February 4, 2006
Lili Taylor: Independent Spirit
Dialogue: Lili Taylor and B. Ruby Rich
November 4, 2006
Isabella Rossellini: Illuminated
Dialogue: Isabella Rossellini and John Anderson
June 23, 2007
Michel Gondry: The Science of Dreams
Dialogue: Michel Gondry and Jonathan Rosenbaum
Regional Premiere: Happy-Go-Lucky
September 14, 2007
Béla Tarr: Mysterious Harmonies
Dialogue: Béla Tarr and Howard Feinstein
Regional Premiere: The Man from London (A Londoni Ferfi)
April 12, 2008
Miloš Forman: Cinema of Resistance
Dialogue: Miloš Forman and Scott Foundas
October 15, 2008
Mike Leigh: Moments
Dialogue: Mike Leigh and Scott Foundas
June 26, 2009
In & Out of Fashion: The Films of William Klein
Dialogue: William Klein and Paulina del Paso
November 25, 2009
Joel and Ethan Coen: Raising Cain
Dialogue: Joel and Ethan Coen and Elvis Mitchell
May 8, 2010
Kelly Reichardt: Off the Beaten Track
Dialogue: Kelly Reichardt and Scott Foundas
October 20, 2010
Olivier Assayas: Between Love and Terror
Dialogue: Olivier Assayas and Kent Jones
March 19, 2011
Julian Schnabel: Artist Director
Dialogue: Julian Schnabel and Darsie Alexander
Film Premiere: Miral
March 15, 2012
Harry Belafonte: Singing His Song
Dialogue: Harry Belafonte and Scott Foundas
April 14, 2012
Lawrence Kasdan: Rugged Terrain
Dialogue: Lawrence Kasdan and Scott Foundas
November 17, 2012
Claire Denis: Unpredictable Universe
Dialogue: Claire Denis and Eric Hynes
April 5, 2013
Noah Baumbach: Visibly Human
Dialogue: Noah Baumbach and Scott Foundas
Regional Premiere: Frances Ha
November 9, 2013
Steve McQueen: Art and Cinema
Dialogue: Steve McQueen and Stuart Comer
Regional Premiere: 12 Years a Slave
May 5, 2015
Christopher Nolan: Moving Through Time
Dialogue: Christopher Nolan and Scott Foundas
November 12, 2016
Robert Redford: Independent/Visionary
Dialogue: Robert Redford with Amy Taubin
November 8, 2017
Lucy Walker: Life Like Reality
Dialogue: Lucy Walker with Scott Foundas
February 1, 2019

Luca Guadagnino: Love and Horror
Dialogue: Luca Guadagnino with Scott Foundas