Beyond Hospital Walls
Film in Hospital in a Croatian community centre
Film in Hospital started in hospitals and other vulnerable healthcare settings, and now the project is also reaching children and young people in community and social centres for minors. In this story, we share a story from Croatia that shows how the same films and activities support children outside hospital walls, offering them a safe cultural space, emotional support, and a sense of belonging in their local community.
Film in Hospital is not only present in paediatric wards, but also in community settings where children live, learn, and grow together. In Šibenik, our films have become a regular part of life at the Social Centre Šubićevac, where a small cinema in the staff room now brings two residential groups together every month.
A film author and media educator Ana Marija Marinov from Croatia shared the story with us:
From our very first visit, it was clear that the Centre is run by a dedicated and warm-hearted team that provides exceptional support to its users. With the help of the educators — and with plenty of popcorn, juice, and sweets — our small cinema in the staff room quickly became a full cinematic experience. The children are now little technicians themselves, unrolling the projector cables as soon as we arrive and asking: “What are we watching today?”
Over the months, we have had all kinds of requests and watched all sorts of films. Before the graduation party, the older group was, understandably, eager for romantic films. Some of the younger ones were much more specific, asking only for films “with excavators as the main characters.” Some wishes we fulfilled completely, others only partially — but in the end, everyone was always satisfied.
We often organise the screenings thematically. After the summer break, for example, we watched films about the sea and talked about the children’s own trips to the beach. One of the greatest pleasures of working in this Centre is witnessing how children who hardly communicated at first soon began sharing their thoughts and taking part in post-film discussions. Our conversations cover many topics — friendship, togetherness, anger, reconciliation — everything the characters go through, we explore together afterwards.
We learned about the difference between films with actors and animated films, watched stop-motion wool-puppet films, and talked about how music shapes what we feel. Once again, these sessions proved something truly wonderful: that children, regardless of age or cognitive ability, are intuitive and perceptive little humans who understand film remarkably well — even without using professional terminology.
Photo from Social Centre Šubićevac, Šibenik, Croatia
