Can Hypnosis Make You Forget a Film? (B2)
News reading: Pathé's "Rewind" event hypnotises film fans so they can watch a favourite film as if for the first time.
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Most film lovers know the feeling. You a favourite film and still enjoy it, but the shock of the first viewing has gone. Now a Dutch cinema chain says it may have a solution, and it involves a hypnotist.
Pathé, which runs cinemas across the Netherlands, has announced an event called "Rewind". On 9 November 2026, 30 film will try to forget a favourite film at Pathé Buitenhof in The Hague and then watch it as if for the first time. The event is free, and the sign-up period closed on 29 October. Pathé openly calls it a , but says there is a serious question behind it.
The hypnosis will be led by Victor Kraemer, who Pathé says has specialised in hypnosis for over 30 years. Each participant first has a personal online session with him, and then a second session in the cinema just before the film begins. Nobody expects to the film from people's minds forever. The hope is that the memory will , at least for one evening.
Participants could choose between The Matrix, Se7en, La La Land and Interstellar, and Pathé will pick one film for the whole group. The company's PR team asked a simple question: who wouldn't want to the first time they saw their favourite film?
So will it work? There is good reason to it. Hypnotherapy is sometimes used to help anxiety and pain, or to help people stop smoking, but making someone forget one specific film is very different. Pathé admits that hypnosis works best on people who are to it, and some people are simply more than others. It describes the evening as an experiment, not a guarantee.
The idea is not completely new. In 2022, the Gothenburg Film Festival in Sweden ran a "Hypnotic Cinema", where audiences were hypnotised before screenings. Director Peter Jackson has also said he once thought about hypnosis so that he could see his Lord of the Rings films with fresh eyes. Whatever the , Pathé has promised to share the results after the event. Many film fans will think it is a try.
Pathé, which runs cinemas across the Netherlands, has announced an event called "Rewind". On 9 November 2026, 30 film will try to forget a favourite film at Pathé Buitenhof in The Hague and then watch it as if for the first time. The event is free, and the sign-up period closed on 29 October. Pathé openly calls it a , but says there is a serious question behind it.
The hypnosis will be led by Victor Kraemer, who Pathé says has specialised in hypnosis for over 30 years. Each participant first has a personal online session with him, and then a second session in the cinema just before the film begins. Nobody expects to the film from people's minds forever. The hope is that the memory will , at least for one evening.
Participants could choose between The Matrix, Se7en, La La Land and Interstellar, and Pathé will pick one film for the whole group. The company's PR team asked a simple question: who wouldn't want to the first time they saw their favourite film?
So will it work? There is good reason to it. Hypnotherapy is sometimes used to help anxiety and pain, or to help people stop smoking, but making someone forget one specific film is very different. Pathé admits that hypnosis works best on people who are to it, and some people are simply more than others. It describes the evening as an experiment, not a guarantee.
The idea is not completely new. In 2022, the Gothenburg Film Festival in Sweden ran a "Hypnotic Cinema", where audiences were hypnotised before screenings. Director Peter Jackson has also said he once thought about hypnosis so that he could see his Lord of the Rings films with fresh eyes. Whatever the , Pathé has promised to share the results after the event. Many film fans will think it is a try.