For its first thirty years, cinema was a noisy place. In fairground booths and variety theatres there was a pianist, a lecturer narrating out loud what was happening on screen, and an audience that came in, went out, ate and commented on the action. Nobody was shocked. The dark, silent auditorium we now take for granted arrived later, when films began to talk and recorded sound demanded that the rest of us keep quiet. In other words: the silence of the audience is not a law of cinema. It is a rule of use less than a hundred years old.

And like every rule, it can be revised.

What a relaxed screening is

A relaxed screening is one where the only thing that does not change is the film. Everything around it does: the volume is lower, the house lights stay dim instead of going out, and you can come in and leave at any point. A bit of noise is fine. You can step out into the foyer for air and come back three minutes later and nothing happens.

There are many people for whom the usual contract of the auditorium is a real barrier: autistic people, people with intellectual disabilities, people living with dementia, people with sensory hypersensitivity, families with small children, or simply anyone who on that particular day needs to watch a film differently. Relaxed screening exist so that cinema reaches them without asking anything in return.

They are part of CineCiutat Comunitats, the programme through which we work to make the auditorium a meeting place and not just a row of seats in the dark.

The first film in this new strand is Forastera, by Lucía Aleñar Iglesias.

Practical information

Tuesday 22 September, 11.00 am, at CineCiutat (C/ Emperadriu Eugènia, 6, Palma).

Tickets here: https://www.reservaentradas.com/entrada/palma-de-mallorca/cineciutat/forastera/53023/

Relaxed screening are part of the Descobrint Cinema project, with the support of the Consell de Mallorca and the collaboration of PalmaCultura and Imprenta Bahía.