Two films from the Rome Film Fest to be screened at the Gemelli Hospital at the Sala MediCinema theatre

For the third year in a row, the Rome Film Fest comes to the hospital at the Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, on October 22^nd and 24^th in the Sala MediCinema movie theatre, with two films from the official line-up in a screening reserved for hospitalized patients, their families, the doctors and staff at the Gemelli.
On Tuesday October 22^nd at 4 pm in the Sala MediCinema at the Gemelli, the series will open with the comedy L’uomo senza gravità directed by Marco Bonfanti, who will attend the screening of the film, which stars Elio Germano, Michela Cescon, Elena Cotta, Silvia D’Amico, Vincent Scarito.
On this occasion, actress Rocio Muñoz Morales will join MediCinema Italia Onlus as the ambassador for the Association. She will illustrate its work, and inaugurate, in the Sala MediCinema at the Policlinico Gemelli, the official screenings of the Rome Film Fest with the patients, to support them and share with them a special day focused on cinema. “I am happy to give my contribution to MediCinema – stated the actress – and to be part of this project that makes it possible to rely on storytelling and cinema to soothe the suffering, if just for a few hours, of the many sick people confined to the hospital wards. Each of us has the right to dream and fill our hearts with the emotions that only films can inspire”.
On Thursday October 24^th at 4 pm, the screening will feature Bar Giuseppe directed by Giulio Base and starring Ivano Marescotti, Virginia Diop, Nicola Nocella, Selene Caramazza, Michele Morrone. The director Giulio Base will attend the screening.
This is a continuation of the extraordinary and successful collaboration that in 2017, Rome Film Fest began with MediCinema Italia Onlus and the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, and which brings a moment of significant relief to the hospital, with two screenings of films selected from the official line-up of the film fest and carefully chosen for a very special audience, the patients of the hospital.
This initiative carries on the work of MediCinema, which has been active since 2016 at the Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS in Rome with a real movie theatre.  The organization includes a biweekly schedule of screenings for the patients, on Tuesdays for all hospitalized patients and on Thursdays with screenings dedicated specifically to the younger patients in the pediatric wards.
Scheduling the films concurrently with the screenings in the “normal” movie theatres in the city – thanks to the valuable collaboration with the companies that produce and distribute films – is an innovative tool that can complement traditional therapies. It is an exclusive protocol of MediCinema Italia, which since its very foundation has promoted the development of clinical research to certify the positive effects of viewing film content. To this end, together with the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, various collaborations and studies of specific pathologies have been undertaken with the Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda in Milan, Fondazione Don C. Gnocchi, Università di Pavia and other health institutions with which MediCinema is currently working.
“We are pleased with our consolidated bond with the Rome Film Fest, a fine example of the concrete enactment of our goal to humanize health care which we pursue by focusing on the person as a whole with total respect for his humanity – stated the President of the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Giovanni Raimondi. The cooperation between the Gemelli and the Rome Film Fest is an excellent opportunity to entertain and provide relief for our patients during their time in the hospital” – concluded the President.
The Artistic Director of the Rome Film Fest, Antonio Monda, stated: “In addition to our traditional venues at MAXXI Museum and Casa del Cinema, the Fest returns for the third time to the Sala MediCinema at the Policlinico Gemelli, an original example that is important to everyone, bringing relief through cinema to people who are hospitalized”.
“It is with great pleasure that we pursue the cooperation with the Rome Film Fest, and this edition will bring a moment of great relief for so many patients in the hospital. Film, for MediCinema Italia, is a very valuable instrument for health care. We are working intensively on clinical research with the purpose of demonstrating that cinema can become an instrument for rehabilitation and for maintaining and improving the quality of life.
By our side this year as the ambassador for our activities, we have actress Rocio Muñoz Morales, who with her great passion and gift for communication, will help us spread the word about our projects” – concludes Fulvia Salvi, President of MediCinema Italia Onlus. “In the name of MediCinema Italia I would like to thank all the organizers of the Rome Film Fest, which every year involves the entire city, and which again this year will give those who are currently undergoing a moment of fragility, the possibility to participate in this important event”.