Michael Loebenstein (Director of the Austrian Film Museum): "What is cinema? was the name of an episode of the film program I collaborated on for Vienna's public access station TIV 25 years ago. Back then, many people would talk about the 'death of cinema,' but nobody needed to explain what cinema was. In 2024, things have changed. Once again – despite or because of the pandemic – cinema has survived its own extinction under the battle cry of 'social space.' Between nostalgia, new hipness, intractability acquired with age, strength of resistance, and new relevance: cinema is! Still. In the 60th year since the Film Museum's founding, we want to learn more about why cinema – as a framework, a social arrangement, a space and a place – still seems to work. We are asking for a few words, thoughts, images and associations about what cinema is (besides a dark space). Everyone and everything is welcome: like in the cinema!"
We look forward to your photos, videos, quotes, illustrations, anecdotes, and ideas:
- via e-mail to
- on Instagram #kinoist
- on postcards found at the Film Museum and which can be placed in the letterbox there
