In September 2025, messages appeared on social networks about special places where people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) could spend their free time. We have verified the accuracy of this news.

“In short, there is a new topic in the Netherlands - ADHD cinemas! There, audiences don't just sit and watch movies as usual. They can knit, embroider, or do whatever they want. The atmosphere is as if you are sitting at home: a movie is on, everyone is chatting, minding their own business. After a hard day - just right,” wrote TV presenter Ksenia Borodina in her Telegram channel (315,000 views at the time of writing this analysis). Similar posts appeared in other channels, for example “Media Russia is not Moscow"(144,000), "drain rat" (108,000) and "Not Morgenstern"(80,000). The topic of ADHD cinemas discussed and in Facebook. The posts are usually accompanied by a video in which people are sitting in an unusual cinema hall - there are tables with table lamps near the chairs. The audience watches the film, while most of them knit at the same time, and some embroider or draw. Some of the posts clarify that in such cinemas you can watch new releases.

Viral video. Source: Telegram

Using a reverse image search, “Verified” found the original video. September 17th posted on Instagram on the page of the Lab1 cultural center, located in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. This was a report from the first event of the Craft Cinema Night series, organized in collaboration with the creative community Painthouse_nl, which holds various master classes in Eindhoven. The hall looks unusual because Lab1, strictly speaking, is not a cinema - it is a cultural space where, along with film screenings, concerts, performances, quizzes, master classes, stand-up shows, language club classes, etc. are held.

Knitting, like some other types of needlework, is often called a hobby for introverts, since it does not require a special workshop and it does not have to be learned from other people - all the necessary knowledge can be obtained from books and videos. At the same time, paradoxically, knitting helps establish social connections. There are many knitting groups around the world that regularly host knitting events for those who want to connect with others who share the same hobby. Often such events are of a charitable nature - for example, they can knit things for the poor.

The most popular formats for such events include movie screenings, since at home many people are accustomed to knitting in front of the TV. It is difficult to determine where and when exactly such meetings began to be held for the first time, but the earliest mentions of such leisure activities are “Verified” found in the Norwegian-language segment of the Internet - apparently, in Norway such film screenings became popular back in the 2010s. Today, film shows for knitters are held in USA, France, Austria, Germany and many other countries.

Contrary to what some Telegram channels wrote, new film releases are, as a rule, not shown at such meetings - firstly, for economic reasons, and secondly, so that the knitting does not suffer and the plot twists are not lost. As they write in organization guidelines For such events, it is best to choose films that are familiar to most, such as classics from the 80s and 90s. By the way, in the viral video from Eindhoven, the meeting participants are also watching not a new product, but “Clueless" - a 1995 youth comedy. At the next Craft Cinema Night, scheduled for November 18, 2025, announced watching the movie "Back to the Future"

Thus, the viral video does not show a special cinema for people with ADHD, but an event for those who are interested in knitting and other types of needlework. Similar film shows have been held not only in the Netherlands, but all over the world - at least for the last ten years.

Cover photo: Lab1 / Instagram