Visitors to the Gothenburg Film Festival will be mesmerized.

Before three screenings at Storan in Gothenburg, the audience will be mass hypnotized by the hypnotist Fredrik Praesto.

For this to be legal, however, permission is required from the National Board of Health and Welfare, writes Göteborgs-Posten, which has sought a wording in the Public Order Act: according to this, permission is required to perform "performing hypnotic or similar experiments at a public event or at a public gathering".

However, the film festival has not applied for a permit.

- The National Board of Health and Welfare does not deal with regulating artistic events, says Jonas Holmberg of the film festival to GP.

Anna Granström, a lawyer at the Legal Department at the National Board of Health and Welfare, emphasizes, however, that a permit is required.

- The hypnotist always needs a permit - for each occasion specified by date.

We make our assessment based on whether the hypnosis for entertainment purposes can take place without danger to the participants' health, Granström explains.

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Visitors to the Gothenburg Film Festival will learn to focus on the film through mass hypnosis.

Photo: Gothenburg Film Festival / SVT