Introduction:

given the potential of cinema to train towards active and healthy aging, added to the extensive existing film recommendations where the protagonists are precisely older adults in the process of retirement and old age, the objectives of analyzing the experience of cinema-debate on healthy aging and active aging and its determinants, in retired from the same educational institution, as well as determining the contributions of each film during the viewing process.

Method:

a study with a qualitative approach and an exploratory cross-sectional descriptive pre-experimental design was carried out, through a socio-educational film-debate intervention, during a period of seven months prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. 19 people participated. For data collection, the audio-recorded focus group technique was used. The data obtained were analyzed on the basis of phenomenology. The film-debate sessions were held at the retired day home. The intervention program consisted of 25 films. All the films, except Un profil pour deux, Paulette, Cuando los hijos regresan and Coco, heeded the film recommendation of the book Mirar y reflexionar la jubilación, which proposes films especially for retired people.

Results:

within healthy aging, the participants analyzed the promotion and maintenance of their functional capacity and their interaction with themselves, with their partner, with their children, with society and with their environments. On active aging, they were able to visualize their opportunities for health, participation and safety. They expressed their wisdom of life, to face their retirement and to live with love. They debated their family and community ties, as well as empowerment, independence, autonomy, dignity, and self-development. Also, they identified the physical, social, economic, personal (psychological and biological) and lifestyle determinants that influence active aging. The particular contributions of all the films were also found for each part of the educational process.

Conclusion:

all the films in the cinema-debate cycle were essential to achieve the shared experience on healthy aging and active aging and their determinants. It is proposed to do new research with recently produced films and with older adult protagonists, as in this study.