Cinema at the service of science

. Santiago Hidalgo Credit: Amélie Philibert | Université de Montréal Newly appointed flm professor Santiago Hidalgo is studying how cinema can be used in a therapeutic setting, especially for children and people suffering from dementia. CONTENU - In the movie, the boxer has taken many blows to the head, but even with blood gushing down his swollen face, he just wants to keep going. Nobody can stop him - not even his son, who's in the crowd watching, afraid how it will end. The camera switches between the boxers hammering away at each other, the spectators around the ring and the face of the little boy suddenly confronted with his father's mortality. This short scene, taken from the 1931 Hollywood movie The Champ , has been used in many psychology studies with one precise goal: to induce a state of sadness in viewers in a very short time, as little as five minutes. Santiago Hidalgo is fascinated by the states of consciousness brought on by films such as these, as well as the many other impacts movies can have on filmgoers.