Dal film interattivo al film enattivo

The contemporary cinematic spectator is postulated as active also because of the advent of digital media that allow to manipulate text content, as well as to take part in the development of the narrative through concrete decisions or transactions. The spectator becomes a co-author of the text, he interacts with it, and sometimes s/he is involved in a real performance or in a game of apparently mutual exchange. With so called 'enactive cinema' – inspired to the paradigm of embodied cognition and the enactive account of human experience –, there has been a further change: compared to traditional interactive cinema, enactive cinema makes the spectator's physiological responses and emotional experience affect the narrative in real time. This contribution offers an overview of the theoretical background of enactive cinema and critically discuss two case studies.