Films for public health: developing the evidence base for films to support public health goals

Film has the potential to be a valuable medium through which to transmit public health messages and improve public health outcomes, and substantial resources are already being allocated to it. In this article, Stella Botchway and Deon Simpson of the University of Oxford, Silvana Bettiol of the University of Tasmania, May van Schalkwyk of Imperial College London, Gerd Flodgren of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, and Uy Hoang of the Public Health Film Society emphasise the necessity of developing film impact evaluation methods in order to maximise the health benefits.