Sidecard, the film access materials database, is a website for recording and researching access materials created for film. Sidecard (www.sidecard.co.uk), a searchable database, is intended to improve and promote accessibility while encouraging the sharing of resources.

Users can search and upload details of descriptive subtitles, audio description files and other materials related to cinema accessibility. Recording which files are in existence and who may be contacted to make use of them will, by extension, promote accessible screenings and ensure that films can reach the widest possible audience. As a resource, Sidecard also hopes to bridge the knowledge gap which discourages film-makers, distributors and exhibitors to facilitate accessible screenings.

Sidecard also hosts glossaries and tailored guides to support distributors, exhibitors and film-makers to learn practically about making films more accessible.

Sidecard is named for the separate “sidecar” files that are created to make screenings and home viewing accessible to Deaf and Blind audiences. No such files will be hosted on the site, but their details will be logged – who made them, who commissioned them, against what version of what particular film – and contact details provided, so that whoever might want to make further use of them can request the materials and permission to use them.

The site, a joint project of Matchbox Cine, Inclusive Cinema, Film Hub Wales, Film Hub Scotland and Independent Cinema Office.