Free movie screenings offer Swiss seniors a refuge as heatwave hits

GENEVA – Daniel Gillieron, 82, settled into his seat in Geneva’s Nord-Sud cinema, looking forward to the prospect of a free film and an extended blast of air-conditioning as a heatwave baked the streets outside.

He was one of hundreds of over-65s who have flocked to free daytime screenings organised by cinemas and the regional authorities to give seniors a break.

Temperatures are set to hit as high as 36 deg C this week in the city, according to the MeteoSuisse weather agency.

“The hotter it gets, the more the cinema becomes a place of refuge,” Laurent Dutoit, manager of three of the cinemas taking part, said .

Around 650 people have taken up the offer since June 18, he added.

“It’s fantastic because it allows us not only to get out of the house and go to the cinema, but also to have an air-conditioned theatre, and to have a good time,” Gillieron said.

June is set to become one of the hottest months on record in Switzerland, amid a heatwave that has swept across Europe. Daytime temperatures have climbed as high as 35 deg C in lowland areas, with some regions exceeding 36 deg C.

“It truly underscores the exceptional nature of this heatwave, which is very long and quite intense,” MeteoSuisse forecaster Elie Kirchner said.

The heatwave is also earlier than usual. Temperatures typically soar in Switzerland around the second half of July and the first half of August. REUTERS