“It is society and not technology that has made cinema what it is. The cinema could have been historical examination, theory, essay, memories…” (Guy Debord)
The organizers situated the congress and gave a report on its two forerunners in Toronto (1989 and 2010). The Experimental Film Congress (1989) and the Experimental Media Congress (2010) were each focused on how the field of experimental field was understood and analyzed in theory and practice, both in terms of content and of structure.
Think:Film was neither based on the concept of experimental film, nor on some undefined sphere of the medial, but on an open, experimental way of thinking about film and cinema. “Experimental film” does not refer to any kind of institutional niche; rather the concept should be understood as a methodology. The congress attempted to extend the frames of reference (institutional and public) for an experimental-artistic film practice. The congress was seen as a practice in opening up an expanded intellectual environment for experimental film as a concept, its individual works, what motivates them, and what makes them necessary.
The discussants have been Stefanie Schulte Strathaus (Arsenal - Institut für Film und Videokunst e.V.) and Heinz Emigholz (Filminstitut der Universität der Künste Berlin), as well as Peggy Gale from Toronto, the editor of the publication for the International Experimental Media Congress 2010.