Open caption screenings

Deaf and hearing-impaired movie fans can have the same experience as other moviegoers in Sydney thanks to a campaign for more open caption screenings. By Nick Dent

DAVE CARTER IS an animator based in Newtown who was born profoundly deaf. He grew up with a love of movies, often not knowing what the characters were saying and trying to figure out the storyline purely through the visuals. “Back to the Future II required 30 viewings and asking my friends annoying questions,” Carter tells Time Out via email. Recently, cinemas in Sydney have invested in Dolby CaptiView, a ‘closed caption’ system that features a small personal display screen that hard-ofhearing viewers can use to read subtitles at the movies. “As much as I wanted to enjoy it, it’s barely different from reading the script on a phone,” Carter says. Luckily for him and film fans like him, things were afoot at Ability Links NSW, a State Government-funded program delivered by the St Vincent de Paul Society NSW that works on the social inclusion of people with disability. Michael Doran, a community engagement coordinator, approached the Ritz Cinema in Randwick about starting ‘open caption’ screenings. Open captions appear on the movie screen for everyone to see (like subtitles) and include descriptions of sound effects. “Most cinema owners are very reluctant, saying ‘mate, it’s not going to work, we tried it before, no one’s going to support it,’” says Doran. He persisted, and got the cinema to agree to a trial screening of the film Wonder. The response was overwhelming, and the Ritz now has three open caption screenings per week. Ability Links surveyed 500 people nationally and found that 78 per cent had a positive reaction to open captioning. “It didn’t detract from the film, it enhanced the experience,” a hearing person responded on the survey. “My mother is deaf… saw a movie here ( Black Panther) and [she] could... understand everything for the first time in her life,” another wrote. The Ritz currently leads the pack of Sydney cinemas when it comes to open captioning (with ticket prices costing no more that other screenings), but other cinemas are signing up ( see right). For Dave Carter, being able to access the shared experience of filmgoing has been a revelation. “Seeing the new Halloween on Halloween, surrounded by strangers, is exactly what it’s about.”