Guideline 'Movies and Medicine' Why not to connect relaxing activities with a bit of education? An informative lecture with a suspenseful movie? What is 'Movies And Medicine'? 'Movies and Medicine' combines professional topics with a relaxed atmosphere. In a public presentation films handling medical and especially ethical issues are shown. Examples for such kind of films are: “Hable con ella” by Pedro Almodovár about the care for a relative being in a coma, “Mar adentro” about the wish for assisted suicide by a palsied man, “I'm a cyborg, but it's O.K.” about the love story between two inhabitants of a closed psychiatry in South Korea. After the film presentation a professor holds a lecture on the main medical topic of the film and replies to the questions of the auditory. This way the story of the film gets analyzed in a professional way and gets commented at the same moment – especially for clearing out possible wrong medical information. This evening stays in minds of the students and is a completely different experience than a typical university lecture. How can we MAKE the concept of ‘Movies And Medicine’ REAL? The attractive thing about Movies & Medicine is its simple principles. You have to book a room in advance – best choice is a room for seminars or for lectures at your faculty - which has a video projector and standard audio system. Depending on the national law of your country you have to pay a certain fee for the legal screening of the movie. You can also buy the original CD/DVD. In Germany e.g. the company GEMA is responsible for the negotiation of prices for music and film licenses with the artists and the consumers. See their website below: GEMA It's also a good idea to get in touch with your local students' representation which probably has some experience with the legal aspects of a film screening.

Keep in mind that Movies & Medicine session is an interesting point on the agenda of your Twinning Project or a meeting with students of the English Department of your Faculty! The only thing you have to do is to arrange everything in English which should not be a big problem since many professors are nowadays good English speakers. Use this opportunity to get non-native students actively involved in EMSA!

Before you hold a M&M session the following checklist has to be worked through by the organizing students’ committee:

Access to the room Do you have access to the room via key or transponder and did you make an agreement with the landlord or local administration about the duration of your stay and the closing time of the building?

Is the audio system working?

Best method: don't test it in the last five seconds before the beginning of the screening.

Is the video projector working? Testing of video projector, screen for the viewing, the cable connection between laptop respectively DVD player with the video projector and the audio system - THE DAY BEFORE.

Is the DVD or the film document on your computer working sufficiently?

Your Expert Find a professor, who is an expert in the main medical issue of the film and knows it amply to do a suitable lecture after screening of the film. A Lecture of 20 to 30 minutes is the best length in our experience in screening films. Otherwise the auditory becomes bored and wants to leave.

Promotion Promotion Promotion Tell your friends, spread advertising material around your faculty, hang posters at places often and willingly visited by medical students, advertise via Facebook/Twitter and the mailing list of EMSA + other groups. Make a short announcement of the date of screening at the beginning of massively frequented or obligatory lectures.

Perfect timing

Our experience is that the best starting time for screening is around 5-6 pm., because the preparation, lecture and discussion last normally longer than planned. Earlier students have university lessons, exercises and lectures. If the session lasts too long students feel they should go back home. Always make sure you start on time – respect your audience and your lecturer!

Present

Get a present for the professor. He/She is supporting your event for free in his evening hours instead of having a quiet, calm night for himself or researching some Nobel prize subjects :)

Extras that make the difference ;) A good way of entertaining the audience further is offering popcorn, cookies, fruits and drinks.

Different topics Think about asking different faculties for doing the professional lecture afterward (for example philosophy, theology, biology, cultural sciences...).

Watch it! Make sure you watch the movie before screening in public. What suited us might not necessarily be enjoyable for others. You know your audience better then the authors and editors of this handbook.

On request we can give you ideas for an advertising prospect. Please contact ethics@emsa-europe.eu There is also a short list of suggested films at the end of the guideline you are reading for your inspiration. You can ask any questions or request solution to problems at your local Coordinator of Movies and Medicine in EMSA, at the European Coordinator of Movies and Medicine EMSA Europe or at the Medical Ethics and Culture Director EMSA Europe. Check the contacts below.

Medical Ethics and Culture Director EMSA Europe 2011/2012: Olga Rostkowska, Poland ethics@emsa-europe.eu olga.rostkowska@emsa.waw.pl

Movies and Medicine Coordinator EMSA Europe 2011/2012: Ema Andrei, Romania ema.andrei30@yahoo.com

Author of the document: Jacob Hildebrand, Germany jacobmhildebrand@aol.com

FILM LIST (x = controversial films: better for small screenings or intern evenings; all films without an ”X”: movies suitable for big public screenings)

Medical Ethics The Island (science-fiction): About cloning of persons to be used as human spare parts. Philadelphia (drama): About a lawyer infected with HIV in the 80s, who gets into trouble at work because of his sexual orientation and his illness, played by Tom Hanks (Oscar ® as best actor). The Constant Gardener (drama): About experiments with pharmaceutics performed with poor people in an African country. Inspired by a book of Graham Greene. The Constant Gardener - Link 2

Relationship Between Doctor And Patient

Open Hearts (X, drama): A doctor in Denmark falls in love with the girlfriend of one of his patients – and therefore gets in serious moral trouble. Gifted Hands – the Ben Carson’s Story (drama): About the career of a surgeon.

Nursery/Rescue Teams

The Savages (tragicomedy): The father Lenny Savage gets dementia and his girlfriend dies. His children are forced to work together finding a new place to live for their not autonomous father in a nursing home, though they have not much time for doing this. Hable con ela (melodrama): Film by Almodovár about a female dancer and a female matador, who falls into coma and get nursed by friends. Then one of the patients is waking up. Off Beat (drama): About Love, Live and Work of a young German rescue assistant at the emergency service. Intouchables (comedy): A black man getting released from jail just wants to get the signature that he applied for the job as a private nurse of a handicapped, wealthy, white French, but he takes the job and starts a close friendship with his boss.

Cancer

Egg Thieves (tragicomedy): Roommates at a German hospital, who all have cancer of the testicles, try to manage their disease. Egg Thieves - Link 2 Knockin‘ on heaven’s door (tragicomedy): Two patients suffering of deadly cancer decide to get to the sea before dying one last time as fulfillment of one of their biggest dreams.

Different Somatic Pathologies Le scaphandre et le papillon (drama): French film shot from the perspective of a patient with locked-in syndrome by an infarct of the cerebellum. LINK 2

Science of Sleep (tragicomedy): About a young, amorous, Mexican narcoleptic, who is prevented from reaching a girl of his dreams by him being handicapped. LINK 2 Peas at 5:30 (love film): Jakob becomes blind and has to manage his new handicap. Struggling with daily life he falls in love with the blind girl Lilly. LINK 2 Dancer in the dark (melodrama): A blind mother struggles to finance the treatment of her son to prevent him from getting the same handicap as hers. LINK 2

Development Aid Doctor Alemán (drama): Marc is a medical intern in Columbia and gets in contact with different kinds of epicrisis that he meets in German clinics. LINK 2

Sleeping Disease (drama): About a medical worker in Africa, whose relationship with his girlfriend breaks up while getting lost in the humid African wilderness. LINK 2

Addiction Requiem for a dream (X, drama): US-film taking place in a socially deprived milieu. The protagonist tries to finance himself and his girlfriend by selling drugs, aiming to open up a clothing shop one day. Both slide together with his business partner into a serious addiction while his mother gets mad in her loneliness at home… Trainspotting (tragicomedy): About the community of Heroine addicted junkies in late eighties Edinburgh.

Public Health Thank You For Smoking (satire): Satire about the lobbying of the American tobacco industry. Superzise Me (documentary): Self-experiment of a U.S.-American, who tries to nourish himself only by McDonalds' fast food. LINK 2 Erin Brokovich (drama): About the attempt of an industrial company to conceal the intoxication of ground water in the nineties.

Psychiatric pathologies Rain Man (drama): About an autistic, for whom his brother takes unwillingly responsibility. LINK 2 Adam (love film): About an autistic physician, who falls in love with a girl in the neighborhood. Girl Interrupted (drama): About two young girls suffering from the borderline syndrome, meeting each other in the closed psychiatry. LINK 2 Elling (tragicomedy): A comedy about a sociophobic Norwegian, who gets released into the big city Oslo for rehabilitation. A beautiful mind (drama): Biopic about the schizophrenic mathematician John Nash. Festen (X) (psychodrama): At the birthday party of his fathers the grown-up son speaks in his birthday toast about the abuse by his father in his childhood – and starts some trouble. The free will (X, psychodrama): About the attempt of rehabilitation of a psychopathic rapist. One flew over the coo-coo’s nest (X, drama): About the life in a psychiatric institution in the USA of the seventies Taxi Driver (X, psychodrama): Post traumatic distress disorder of a veteran of Vietnam war, who works as taxi driver in New York and finally is doing vigilante justice over the procurer of an underage prostitute. LINK 2 Birdy (X, drama): About post traumatic stress disorder. LINK 2

Waltz with Bashir (drama): Calm and stimulating film about an Israeli soldier who remembers the events happening a couple of years ago in the Lebanon war in which he took part. LINK 2 À la folie...pas du tout (drama): Psychotic love; first half of the film from the perspective of the mad woman, in the second half from the perspective of the victim. LINK 2

FOR MORE MOVIES WE SUGGEST THIS SITE:

The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics

is an independent charitable organisation composed of professionals from various

disciplines associated with medical ethics. We seek to engage in current ethical issues,

especially those of particular concern within Scotland, and to provide a Scottish voice on

the international scene.

The site contains a range of material relating to human bioethics, which we hope will be a

useful resource for those with an interest in healthcare, education and politics.