Used as part of psychotherapy, cinema therapy is an innovative method based on traditional therapeutic principles. in films on the psyche for insight, inspiration, emotional release or relief and natural change. Cinema therapy allows one to use the effect of imagery, plot, music, etc. Cinema therapy can be a catalyst for healing and growth for those who are open to learning how movies affect people and to watching certain films with conscious awareness. The channel produces episodes around 30-40 minutes long where a filmmaker and therapist, Alan Seawright and Jonathan Decker respectively, provide examples of using cinema therapy in practice.Ĭinema therapy is defined by Segen's Medical Dictionary as:Ī form of therapy or self-help that uses movies, particularly videos, as therapeutic tools. But everything starts with the deep intention that the filmmaker has when making the film'įollowing this, in 2020 a YouTube channel called 'Cinema Therapy' emerged and reached 1m subscribers on 11 August 2022.

In the end, the result of that process will be a medicine for all the viewers as human beings. Once the filmmaker and his crew engage in the process of filmmaking, they start healing by the revelation and situations that happen along the process of making a film.

Gary Solomon, Anghelo Taylor wrote the CinemaTherapy Manifesto, that starts with one simple principle: 'In order for cinema therapy truly exist the filmmaker must have an internal search, question or problem to solve inside himself but that relates with the rest of humanity or with specific community. The movement started to catch up again in 2019 with the featured documentary 'Calypsonians' by director Anghelo Taylor, unlike the creation of Dr.

Gary Solomon, the first to write on using movies as therapy. Cinema therapy was created and popularized by Dr. Cinema therapy or movie therapy is a form of expressive therapy – like art, music and dance therapy – for medical and mental health issues.

Cinematherapy by Nancy Peske