Liam O’Dell: Are we finally seeing a long overdue culture shift with captioned cinema? (BSL)

I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but it sure feels like we’re witnessing the beginning of a change in attitude from UK cinemas around increasing access to captioned screenings for Deaf and hard of hearing audiences. Could we finally be reaching the point where missing out on the latest cultural conversation is as rare as finding an accessible showing on a Saturday afternoon, and not when we’re at work?

I’m still apprehensive, but let me explain where my newfound hope is coming from. Just last month we saw Warner Bros. Pictures collaborate with the British Deaf Association to put on a captioned screening of Creed III at its European premiere. Separately, eOne are putting on subtitled showings of Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves later this month where deaf audiences can preview the movie days before it’s released nationwide – and there’ll still be captioned screenings after that.

To put this another way: deaf people will finally be able to join the hype at the same time as hearing people. Up until now, many of us have had to mute hashtags on Twitter and more to avoid spoilers about the latest blockbuster. If we’re having the chance to see films before anyone else, then the game has changed significantly. We would no longer have to carry out such burdensome admin in order to do something as simple as going to the cinema – something which should be enjoyable and hassle-free.

Make no mistake, however, that I remain realistic. These are only two recent examples, and while – to the best of my knowledge – Dungeons and Dragons doesn’t have any Deaf characters/actors and they are doing this regardless, Creed III very much did feature a Deaf character, so it made sense for Deaf audiences to have reasonable access to the film. This simple initiative can snowball, and it must.

As much as we should praise these steps, we have to ask why it’s taken an unacceptable amount of time for film bosses to clock that a whole marginalised community has cut ties with cinema because it continues to be institutionally audist. They will put on captioned screenings at inaccessible times, then use the low turnout and poor promotion as an excuse to put on a limited number going forward.

Perhaps recent releases like CODA and Sound of Metal are alerting movie makers to the money which lies in deaf stories (if we are to think honestly, but cynically). Or maybe they sat up and took notice when festival judges at Sundance walked out of a film which wasn’t captioned for Deaf audience members such as Marlee Matlin.

Whatever the reasoning is, how damning is it, of both the industry representative body the UK Cinema Association and major chains like Cineworld, ODEON and Vue, that it is smaller cinemas like Picturehouse and The Light who have deployed the common sense required to improve accessibility.

How shameful is it that film producers and distributors like Warner Bros Pictures and eOne are leading the charge on captioned screenings, instead of cinemas which could do so much to inspire a new generation of film lovers, and should be welcoming as diverse an audience into its buildings to enjoy the magic of cinema as possible.

At this point, we need to see the UK Cinema Association throw its weight behind this sudden pattern around subtitled screenings. Frankly, it’s about freaking time they did. Whether they will, when we’ve seen them pursue ill-advised technological solutions and tokenistic methods of inclusion, is another question entirely.

We’ll have to see whether we’ll be watching more subtitled cinema soon, but right now, we’ll be watching the industry closely to find out if this is merely wishful thinking.

Photo: Ollie Cole.

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is an award-winning Deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.