From March 30 to June 15, 2026: Ciné-club "White Coats and Silver Screens"

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From Eye to Scalpel: When Images Tell the Story of Medicine

Antoine Geissbühler, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine

Under the aptly titled “White Coats and Silver Screens”, the Ciné-club of the University of Geneva is celebrating the 150^th anniversary of the Faculty of Medicine. Through some ten films, this series offers a unique opportunity to reflect on the profound connections between cinema and medicine.

When, in 1895, the Lumière brothers screened their first moving images, they ushered in not only a new art form but also a new way of seeing and understanding the world. The end of the nineteenth century thus marked the advent of an era in which the image became a central tool of knowledge. Medicine, too, turned towards imagery: meticulous observation, the capture of movement, and the revelation of the invisible opened up possibilities for medicine and science that had previously been unimaginable.

Only a few weeks before the first public screening of the cinematograph, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays, rendering the interior of the human body visible. And when Étienne-Jules Marey, in turn, broke down movement through chronophotography, he revealed what the naked eye could not perceive. These innovations formed part of the same revolution in vision that enabled the birth of cinema and the progress of modern medicine.

Yet cinema is never merely the representation of reality: it also validates and shapes our perceptions. Over the decades, the doctor has become one of the most recurrent figures in the seventh art. From operating theatres to consulting rooms, from psychiatric hospitals to research laboratories, cinema has continually explored this character at the heart of so many human dramas. Humanist hero or venal practitioner, autocratic mandarin or pioneering figure, devoted physician or mad scientist: these portrayals oscillate between praise and denunciation, between realism and fantasy, while reflecting the anxieties and hopes of each era.

The films brought together for us by the group of UNIGE students led by Alexandre Wenger and Radu Suciu thus create a marvellous kaleidoscope of images and perspectives on medicine and those who practise it. These works address questions that touch us closely: dedication and its limits, discrimination and misconduct, but also the dignity of patients, innovations that offer new hope, and the search for meaning in the daily practice of medicine.

Several of these films feature in our medical humanities teaching programme, where they spark rich and stimulating discussions each semester. May these screenings provide you with the opportunity to (re)discover these works and to deepen your reflection on our profession.

Enjoy the films!

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