In the editorial of the first issue of Cinema: Journal of Philosophy and the Moving Image it is stated that the journal's aim is to provide a platform where cinema, taken in its broadest sense, as image in motion and image that moves, can be a topic of serious scholarly work.

The editors observe that particularly since the digital shift:

the uses and definitions of “cinema” have become permeable. We are not going, however, to tackle the thorny issue of definitions here: the question “what is cinema?” or “what is the philosophy of cinema?” will be left to our contributors in this and future issues. Nevertheless, unquestionably, today, cinema means not just film, but other forms of the moving image. Traditional filmmakers are increasingly using digital and animation techniques and the usual understanding of cinema as film is being challenged with the digital shift. The same is true of television. Furthermore, ever since the 1960s, artists have increasingly incorporated video into installations in exhibitions and, more recently, new creative outputs include the use of new media.