I am not the first to bemoan our increasing lack of shared experience and our increasingly fractured, algorithm-driven culture, but the honestly transcendent experience I had at the Hamnet gala premiere at the BFI London Film Festival, really drove home what we risk losing.

The London Film Festival is my favourite place to be. It always has a buzz and excited atmosphere, generated by a collective who all fought the good fight to nab themselves a ticket. Being in a packed screen with other people who love cinema just as much as you is not to be taken for granted, especially when it’s rare that audience numbers at my local multiplex break into double digits. Gala premieres, especially, have a palpable energy and sense of anticipation, heightened by the presence of the red carpet and attendance from the cast and crew.

Hamnet’s gala was something else. I have been fortunate enough to attend many galas over the years and whilst certain ones stood out for their own reasons, I have never had an experience like this. The film’s special introduction, the experience of the film itself, plus the attendance of a somewhat surprise guest, lifted the evening to another level.

The gala began the way they usually do, with a brief trailer for the festival, followed by the festival director striding onto the stage to loud applause. She will then usually introduce the cast and crew in attendance, or the director, who will then do so. For Hamnet, she introduced the producers of the film, one of whom is Sam Mendes. He then began to speak; it’s not unheard of for the producer to introduce the director, and it certainly made sense to me seeing as he is as revered Oscar-winning director himself. However, he ended his speech about the film by saying he was now going to introduce another of the film’s producers – there felt as if there was a collective intake of breath – one who had given him his first job in film: Steven Spielberg. Cure rapturous applause and an electric energy zipping through the already palpably excited audience. I certainly felt it as a titan of cinema, an architect of dreams and one of the all-time greats walked out on stage. He hadn’t attended any other festivals for Hamnet and experiencing that collective surprise, joy and appreciation alongside thousands of other film lovers was a special moment.

Spielberg then spoke at length about the film’s director, Chloé Zhao, speaking first about how he believes the Earth has a 24/7 heartbeat that we are all connected to, something he believes Zhao has a greater connection to than any other filmmaker, grounding it in a natural rhythm. This set the tone for a beautiful experience that followed. Once Zhao and the rest of her cast and crew had taken to the stage and answered some questions from the festival’s director, Zhao stepped forward, microphone in hand, before pausing and taking a moment. You could hear a pin drop. She asked for grace as she was emotional; this was Hamnet’s homecoming after all, the premiere taking place a mere stone’s throw from the Globe. She then lead us all in a ritual the cast and crew had performed regularly on set as part of their creative process – a sort of guided meditation. We were encouraged in turn to look at the people to our right, to our left, in front of and behind us. We were prompted to feel the city of London supporting us beneath our seats and bring awareness to ourselves by putting our hands on our chests and tapping gently, repeating ‘this is my heart’. Finally, we all took three deep breaths together, letting out audible sighs. The sound of over 2,500 people doing this in unison was incredibly moving. The whole experience allowed us to feel the connective tissue stretched between us and recognise each other and our collective presence together in the room. It really opened everyone up in the best way to experience the film.

The film itself was phenomenal (you can read my review here), and had a profoundly emotional impact on the audience. You could feel the pull of the cinema screen holding lulling us all in a trance and in the quieter moments you could hear sniffles and suppressed sobs coming from all around. The film’s ending, without spoiling it, depicts the healing power of art and the communal experience of it, how relating to emotions on stage or screen becomes even more powerful when you can feel those around you reacting in the same way. In a meta way, experiencing a piece of art depicting that with thousands of others made the swell of emotions even more overwhelming. It just reminds us all of our collective humanity and what we share; a reminder that is increasingly vital in a world seemingly full of staunch divisions.

The cinema is one of the last vestiges free of the fracturing power of technology; one of the few environments where you can’t be distracted or pulled away by your phone, where you can sit and be present with other people, friends and strangers, and witness something together. Regardless of the film, LFF always reminds me of the power of a shared experience (it is the best place to watch a film, in my opinion, purely for the audience), but the beautiful collective meditation, the simultaneously devastating yet soul-enriching poignancy of the film and Hamnet’s own depiction of the communal power of art made it even more apparent. It was a special evening, that reinforced our connection to one another and just how important that is.