Another Australasian Premiere for Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers
Hearing impaired and Deaf New Zealanders will get a chance to see the first Australasian captioned screenings of Lord of
the Rings, The Two Towers from tomorrow.
Human Rights Commissioner Robyn Hunt welcomed the screenings and hoped they would lead to more mainstream films having
captioned screenings in the future.
“Captioned screenings mean that many more New Zealanders are able to more fully enjoy popular films,” she said. “There
are an estimated 420,000 - 450,000 New Zealanders who are either hearing impaired or Deaf.”
“Roadshow Film Distributors should be commended for taking the initiative to kick this off and I hope that other
distributors will follow the lead.”
The first of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, had the first ever captioned screenings of a popular release
title in New Zealand in November last year.
The Two Towers season will run from tomorrow until 11 March in Auckland and Wellington before the two captioned prints
are sent to Australia.
Discussions continue on having captioned screenings of The Two Towers at other main centres.
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.
Ms Hunt emphasised that captioned screenings weren’t only for the hearing impaired and the Deaf. “You get the best of
both worlds with captioned screenings and they could be a good compromise for those people who always complain that the
book was better.”
The screenings will take place at Village Queen Street 12 in Auckland and Hoyts Manners Mall in Wellington. There will
be two sessions each day in both cities. In Auckland the screenings are scheduled for:
Thursday 27 February - 11am and 7.30pm
Sunday 2 March - 11am and 7.30pm
Tuesday 4 March - 11am and 7.30pm
Thursday 6 March - 11am and 7.30pm
Sunday 9 March - 11am and 7.30pm
Tuesday 11 March - 11am and 7.30pm
In Wellington the screenings until Tuesday 4 March are scheduled for:
Thursday 27 February - 12noon and 7:45pm
Sunday 2 March - 1pm and 8:20pm
Tuesday 4 March - 12noon and 7:45pm
Screening times are subject to change and people should check newspaper directories for confirmed screenings.