Cinema can have a profoundly restorative power; the ability to lift you out of yourself and change your emotional state as well as entertain you. It’s partly the film you’re watching and partly the total immersion of the experience – sitting in the dark in an audience, you focus only on the screen. If you’re unlucky enough to be in hospital for months, the escapism of cinema is particularly valuable to you. MediCinema, an organisation that currently runs seven cinemas in NHS hospitals and clinical settings throughout the UK, is based on the principle that hospital cinema provision is therapeutic and should be as widespread as possible. We spoke to their Chief Executive Kat Mason about how their cinemas operate, and the valuable impact of their work.
Source: Cinema therapy: screening film in hospitals with Medicinema – Independent Cinema Office