What We Learned from Children: A Film Means the Most When It Becomes a Shared Experience
Results from a European study and a new Train-the-Trainer education program confirm that watching films together brings the greatest benefits to children during treatment.
Children respond best when a film becomes a shared experience. Conversation after the screening, sharing impressions, and creative activities turn film-watching into a space for connection, emotional expression, and togetherness. This is precisely one of the most important insights that Film in Hospital has developed through years of work in hospitals across Europe.
These experiences were further validated by research conducted within the project framework by the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in six European countries. The research showed that the greatest impact on the emotional well-being of children and young people occurs when watching a film is not an isolated activity, but part of a guided process that includes conversation, sharing impressions, and tailored creative workshops. Such an approach fosters greater emotional engagement, a sense of belonging, and more active participation of children in cultural content during treatment.
Based on these experiences and research findings, Film in Hospital developed a joint European Train-the-Trainer program for cultural workers, educators, and associates who run film activities in hospitals. The program provides partners with a shared methodological framework for guiding screenings and conversations with children, adapting activities to their age and health condition, and creating a safe space for imagination, communication, and mutual connection.
The first training was held in Zagreb during the project’s partner meeting under the leadership of health psychologist Sara Lulić Kujundžić, and was then continued online for all partners and associate partners of the European network. This transforms the experiences gathered in hospitals and the research findings into shared working standards that will be applied in all 12 countries involved in the project.
In the Film in Hospital program, a film is not just content being shown. It becomes a tool that helps children during treatment express feelings, develop conversations with peers and adults, and forget the hospital routine, even if just for a moment.
The Film in Hospital project, which is implemented with the support of the Creative Europe MEDIA – Audience Development and Film Education program, currently brings together partners from 12 European countries and provides children and young people in hospitals, rehabilitation centres, and other healthcare institutions with access to European films, film education, and cultural participation.
