CAPTIONED FILMS LAUNCH

CAPTIONED FILMS LAUNCH

9 April 2001 Speech delivered by Disability Discrimination Commissioner Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM George Street Cinema Complex, Sydney

Good evening. Welcome to the launch of captioned movies in Australia.

I would like to acknowledge some guests here:

• The Hon. Janelle Saffin MLC and Brad Hazzard MP, Shadow Minister for
  Community Services;
• Alan Finney, President of the Motion Picture Distributors Association
  of Australia
• Peter Cody, Group Film Manager, Greater Union, on behalf of Greater
  Union, Hoyts and Village Cinemas
• Carol-Lee Aquiline, Secretary-General of the World Federation of the
  Deaf
• Robert Adam, President of the Australian Association of the Deaf
• Other representatives of the Deaf and hearing impaired community and
  their families, and in particular Dr John Byrne
• Stepan Kerkyasharian AM, Chair, Community Relations Commission for
  a Multicultural NSW.

A picture paints a thousand words, but most Australians gave up watching
silent movies in the first half of the last century. However, for 1.7
million Australians who are Deaf or hearing impaired this is a historic
day. For them it marks the beginning of access to the soundtracks of movies
- access that most of us have enjoyed for all of our lives.

I think it is important to understand a little of the history of the
event that is being launched today. Late in 1999 Dr John Byrne, who is
with us tonight, lodged a complaint under the Disability Discrimination
Act against a cinema. Dr Byrne said he could not enjoy movies with his
family because he could not hear the soundtrack.

When we received this complaint at the Commission we realised John was
raising an issue that applied to film exhibiters across Australia, not
just to John's local cinema. We therefore decided, after talking to the
parties to the complaint, to deal with this matter as a public inquiry.

After we published a notice of inquiry, we received numerous submissions
from people and organisations in the film industry and throughout the
Deaf and hearing impairment communities.

Following receipt of these submissions we established the Captioned Movies
Forum, which brought together representatives of film distributors and
exhibiters, the Deaf and hearing impaired communities and the Australian
Caption Centre.

The result of these meetings was the trial of open-captioned movies run
in Sydney and Melbourne in the middle of last year.

Following further negotiations, the three major movie exhibiters in Australia
- Greater Union, Hoyts and Village - agreed to show open captioned movies
at selected cinemas throughout Australia.

And now, I would like to extend my best congratulatiosn to the industry
and community representatives on their achievement. They have approached
this issue with good will and shown a willingness to work together to
address a major area of systemic discrimination. They found a practical
solution to a practical problem.

So, how will the program work?

The captions - detailing the spoken words and other features of the soundtrack
- are "burned" on to the print of a film. At present this work is only
done by one organisation in the US called Tripod.

Film distributors have agreed to import prints of major movies and to
screen them in five mainland capitals of Australia three times a week
for at least a two week run. The films to be shown and session times will
be advertised in all regular movie advertising media.

After these two week runs the prints will be available for screening
in other cinemas including independent cinemas in other cities, suburban
and regional areas.

I urge you to take your family and friends and enjoy together the movies
that are on offer.

Open captioned movies will also benefit people who are learning English.
Every effort will be made to ensure community groups representing people
of non-English speaking background are made aware of the program.

To take open captioned movies into the future we have set up a committee
of industry and community representatives and the Australian Caption Centre
to promote and co-ordinate the program. The Committee met this morning
and has begun the process of establishing an ongoing program which will
begin in early May.

I won't talk about the benefits of this initiative for Australians who
are deaf or have a hearing impairment, as speakers following me will do
this. Nor will I comment further on industry's role, as this will be covered
as well.

I would, however, like to read a message from the Hon. Daryl Williams,
Australia's Attorney-General, who was unable to be with us tonight, but
who has certainly been following this and other public inquiries which
the Commission is conducting with great interest and genuine support.

He says

Dr Ozdowski, members of the Captioned Movies Forum, ladies and gentlemen,
I am sorry that I cannot be with you at this historic event, the launch
of regular captioned movies in Australia. I warmly congratulate all those
who have worked so successfully to achieve what is undoubtedly an important
milestone for Australians who are deaf and hearing impaired.

The Government is committed to policies that support and facilitate
the full participation in society of people with disabilities. The process
that has led to this occasion is one which demonstrates one of the very
important roles played by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
- that of informing and educating, so that action results from understanding.

This agreement to show captioned movies followed a complaint under
the Disability Discrimination Act lodged by a man who was deaf and who
could not enjoy movies with his family. The Commission, recognising that
the complaint raised broad policy issues, dealt with the complaint as
a public inquiry, allowing input from other areas of the movie industry
and the disability field. I applaud this innovative use of the legislation
to achieve positive partnerships working towards systemic change.

I have been greatly impressed by how the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission has forged such a productive relationship with the film industry
and consumer representative bodies in the Captioned Movies Forum. This
is an example of how industry can work together with consumer representatives
and Australians with disabilities to achieve outcomes that benefit everybody.

This must be a particularly exciting evening for the 1.7 million Australians
who are deaf or hearing impaired. They will now be able to attend mainstream
movies with their families and friends. Many Australians who do not speak
English as their first language will also benefit from this initiative.
I wish you all a very enjoyable evening.

I am very pleased, as Disability Discrimination Commissioner, to launch
the initiative tonight and invite you to enjoy the first of Australia's
captioned movies, Men Of Honour.