This conference aims to present findings from the 20th-century history of educational film (school, university or popular education, consultation or vocational training) from the vantage point of film practice. Even more so than many other types of films, educational films were not supposed to be appreciated as self-contained artifacts. Whether in classrooms, lecture halls or makeshift sites of popular education, educational films were often made to be accompanied – by live lectures, slides, booklets, other films or film fragments – and embedded in lesson plans and participatory tasks. This matter of the screening dispositif is one of several ways in which the research of educational film foregrounds the notion of film practice. Another case in point are the specific regulations and institutional networks that structure the use of film in educational settings – specifically films aimed at primary and secondary education – and that negotiate the conditions on which the moving image has been accepted and promoted as a teaching aid. Finally, the concept of practice also highlights matters of agency: Writing about educational film as practice means grasping beyond a history of institutions and incorporating localized DIY efforts and ‘deviant’ uses of films and equipment in education.

LBIDH Project: Educational Film Practice in Austria