Dementia Friendly Cinema Screening
Calling all DEEPers, the Phoenix group needs your help! The Phoenix group are based in Ashford, Kent and our local dementia friendly cinema screening is run by the cinema chain Picture House. When attending these screenings, our members have noticed some things about them that are not so dementia friendly! Firstly, the majority of the films they show are extremely outdated, some recent examples include; Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Superman (1978), and Back To The Future (1985). People living with dementia can enjoy new films too! The audio is also too loud for the majority of viewers to enjoy. They advertise free tea, coffee, and biscuits half an hour before the film but this does not always happen. Some of our members have raised these issues to the local area manager and we had even created our own list of suggested alternative films. However, we have been informed that as the dementia screening is part of an initiative happening in their cinemas nationally, they all have to show the same films. This, makes it more difficult for them to change the film list. They have also informed us that they are unable to turn down the volume of their films. But, we know that the volume is reduced for the autism friendly screenings (and this is confirmed on their website). We are therefore reaching out for your support, we want to find out if others have had similar experiences or opinions. This is with the hope that getting support from people all over the country will aid our goal of adjusting the film list and audio level!
