15/09/2003

As part of the UK Film Council’s pioneering Access Programme costing half a million pounds ( around €710,268), which intends to make films available to people with hearing and sight impairments, up to 75 cinemas in the UK have been invited to apply for matching funds to install the required specialist technology.
The Film Council (FC) will provide £350,000 for the installation of captioning and audio-description equipment, £60,000 for the provision of sub-titled and/or audio-described film prints for use in cinemas, and £50,000 for the creation and /or development of a web-based film information service.
Inviting the bids, Pete Buckingham, the Head of the FC’s Distribution and Exhibition Fund said: “Film is a uniquely powerful medium which informs, entertains and inspires and we want to ensure that cinemas are accessible to all sections of the community. With the active involvement of local cinemas and film companies we can begin to open up the world of cinema to people with hearing and visual impairments. Change is long overdue”.