Is it a Black Mirror Episode? CineDramatic goes to Panhellenic Dramatherapy Conference

Description

How do we experience our bodies when called to expose or project them outward?
What is the distance between what is seen and what we truly feel?

This workshop uses the Cinedramatic method, a synthetic approach combining Cinema and Dramatherapy, to explore how the body is experienced, projected, and exposed in the contemporary world.

According to Erving Goffman (1959), the self is presented through a “theatrical” analogy: each person exposes themselves on society’s “stage,” projecting roles and “masks” to meet social expectations. The body serves as the primary medium for this presentation, regulating expressions, movements, and appearance to be accepted by the “audience.”

Winnicott (1965) describes the false self as a defense — a “mask” adopted to meet environmental demands and expectations; a protective adaptation that often leads to alienation. In contrast, the true self is connected to authenticity, creativity, and the lived experience of being. Exploring these two dimensions through experiential material allows participants to recognize their own tensions between “appearing” and “being” and to engage with the body as a site of truth and experience.

The seminar will feature a clip from the series Black Mirror, highlighting the tension between external appearance and internal experience. Within this framework, we use the psychoanalytic terms acting out and acting in (Laplanche & Pontalis, 1973). Acting out refers to non-verbal, impulsive expression of conflicts and emotions outside the therapeutic or experiential process — for example, when social pressure leads to overconsumption or withdrawal. In contrast, acting in refers to expressing these experiences within the safe space of the workshop, where the body can serve as a medium for awareness and transformation.

The aim of the workshop is to create a space for observation and experimentation. Participants will have the opportunity to see how their bodies function both as a means of social projection and as a carrier of personal experience. Through the clip and experiential exercises, they will explore their positions between “appearing” and “being” and experiment with small, safe steps toward more authentic expression.

Themes

Body and spirit
The flexible body
The social self and image

The workshop takes place as part of the 3rd Panhellenic Dramatherapy Conference titled “The Body as a Field of Enactment: from acting out to acting in,” organized by the Panhellenic Professional Association of Dramatherapists and Play Therapists (PEEDP).

This is an experiential seminar, involving both individual and group practice.

When

November 22, 2025
19:00–20:30

Where

Conference & Cultural Center Egaleo, Athens

Information & Registration

+30 6977 039931
info@moccadramatherapy.gr