The M23 Cinema (M23-Kino) is an alternative teaching course at the Medical Faculty of LMU Munich. Through feature films and documentaries, as well as invited experts and those affected, the M23 Cinema raises awareness of medical and socially relevant topics. LMU and TUM medical students, medical professionals from all semesters and years of training, as well as any students from other disciplines from all Munich universities who are interested in medical backgrounds are invited to the cinema evenings with subsequent audience discussion.

The aim of the M23 Cinema evenings is to get a discussion going between participants via high-quality cinema films. It encourages students to take different perspectives via the learning methodology cinemeducation, to think reflectively and to connect knowledge with emotional narratives. The interdisciplinary and interprofessional format sensitises future health professionals that medicine is not purely biomedicine but that psychosocial aspects are also an integral part of health. The M23 Cinema can initiate transformative learning and help shift the biomedical focus to a more humanistic approach.

The M23 Cinema has existed for over fifteen years, is held several times a semester in German and regularly in English when international guests are present. Non-German language films are shown in the original with English subtitles whenever possible. The M23 Cinema was originally initiated by Professor Matthias Siebeck, who still serves as patron of the project, and is a joint project of the module 23 organisational team of the faculty and students as well as residents, sponsored by the Dean of Studies Office. The selection of films and topics is made by the student cinema committee.

The M23 Cinema was evaluated as part of a medical doctoral thesis:

Rueb M, Rehfuess EA, Siebeck M, Pfadenhauer LM. Cinemeducation: A mixed methods study on learning through reflective thinking, perspective taking and emotional narratives. Med Educ. 2023 Jul 31. doi: 10.1111/medu.15166. PMID: 37525520.

Rueb M, Siebeck M, Rehfuess EA, Pfadenhauer LM. Cinemeducation in medicine: a mixed methods study on students' motivations and benefits. BMC Med Educ. 2022 Mar 12;22(1):172. doi: 10.1186/s12909-022-03240-x. PMID: 35279156.