First Ever Captioned Screenings In NZ

First Ever Captioned Screenings In NZ

Auckland screenings of “Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring” are the first-ever New Zealand captioned screenings of a popular release title in a main centre.

Human Rights Commissioner Robyn Hunt said that captioned screenings provide hearing impaired and Deaf New Zealanders with greater access to, and enjoyment of, popular films.

“Captioned film presentations are more explanatory than sub-titled films as they feature descriptions of sound effects as well as dialogue indicating who is speaking – which makes for a far more well-rounded film experience”.

After discussions between the Commission and the Motion Picture Distributors Association of New Zealand (MPDA), Road Show Film Distributors (NZ) Ltd have agreed to consider the need for captioned screenings in New Zealand.

In response to this, throughout November, there will be series of captioned screenings of “Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring” in main centres around New Zealand. The series begins tomorrow in Auckland.

Ms Hunt said that she hoped that captioned screening of popular release film titles would become a permanent feature of the New Zealand film calendar.

“The Deaf and hearing impaired communities have responded with great enthusiasm to this initiative. It would be great if these screenings led to a situation where that enthusiasm was met on a regular basis”.

Ms Hunt said that she encourages all New Zealanders to support the captioned movie initiative by coming to watch one of the captioned screenings of “The Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring”.

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