Contact a Family Cymru: Supportive Environment Screenings

Supportive environment film events for children with disabilities and/or additional needs and their families.

Contact a Family Cymru: Supportive Environment Screenings

Project Overview A strategic project as part of Film Hub Wale’s Diversity & Access strand for 2015/16, developed in response to both audience and member demand. Contact a Family are a national charity that support families with children who have a range of sensory needs and learning difficulties. In 2015, Film Hub Wales awarded support … More

Accessing Community Cinema: Driftwood Cinema

Project overview Community Cinemas operate on a tight budget and primarily screen from DVD using equipment aimed at the “home” market or a little better. Venues also are multi-use and not purpose built and therefore often suffer from poor acoustic qualities and do not offer tiered seating. However their audience demographic includes a significant proportion … More

We recommend using professional subtitling and audio description services for your film wherever possible, to ensure the best possible standard and accessibility for your screenings.

To provide subtitles which are accessible for D/deaf audiences you will need to provide caption (descriptive) subtitles for your film, which provide extra information about the sound onscreen as well as dialogue. Subtitling often used for foreign language films translates the dialogue only and assumes a hearing audience. Please check with the individual subtitle supplier whether they provide this.

For foreign language films, you will need a Subtitler and/or Audio Describer who can translate for screen.

Here are details of some UK based organisations who may be able to help:

Subtitling, BSL and Audio Description Services

Matchbox Cineclub  – Subtitling.
Day for Night – Subtitling , audio description, translation in 45 languages.
Voicebox – Subtitling.
Glocal Media – Subtitling and BSL translation for media.
Zebra Uno – Subtitling and BSL translation for media
Capital Captions – Subtitling, audio description and translation.
Screen Language – Subtitling, audio description and translation.
Matinee Multilingual –  Subtitling, audio description and translation in 80+ languages.
Mind’s Eye – Audio Description
Vocal Eyes – Audio Description
Audio Description Association – Offers a directory of freelance Audio Describers, sorted by region.
Sign Language Media – BSL translation for media.
Reflect BSL – BSL translation for media.
Red Bee Media – BSL translation for media.
Bradford Talking Media – Subtitling and BSL translation for media.
Sign Language Direct – BSL translation for media.
Tarjuman – Subtitling and translation.

BSL Interpreter Services

If you are looking for a BSL interpreter for your film screening, event or meeting, here is a list of Interpreter services and organisations who may be able to help:

Action On Hearing Loss – BSL Interpreters, Deafblind interpreters, Lip Speakers, Sign Supported English (SSE) Interpreters.
Clarion UK – BSL Interpreters.
Sign Language Direct – BSL Interpreters and Lip Speakers.
Sign Solutions – BSL Interpreters.
Deaf Umbrella – BSL Interpreters, London and South East (Kent).
Prestige Network – BSL Interpreters.
Zebra Uno – BSL Interpreters, Lip Speakers, Sign Supported English (SSE) Interpreters, Deafblind Interpreters, international Sign Interpreter.
LanguageLine Solutions – BSL Interpreters.
BID Services – BSL Interpreters.
Royal Association for Deaf People – BSL Interpreters, Lip Speakers, Deafblind Interpreters.
Link Hearing – BSL Interpreters.
List of BSL interpreter contacts.

Speech-To-Text and Live Caption Services

AVSTTR (The Association of Speech-To-Text Reporters) – Speech-To-Text Reporters
Action on Hearing Loss – Speech-To-Text Reporters
MyClearText – Speech-To-Text Reporters
Clarion UK – Speech-To-Text Reporters
NRCPD (The National Registers of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deafblind People) – Speech-To-Text Reporters
BIVR (British Institute of Verbatim Reporters) – Speech-To-Text Reporters
Stagetext – Subtitling and live captioning
AI Live – Live captions
Transcription City – Subtitling and live captioning
Capital Captions – Live captioning

Captioning software

Streamtext – Realtime caption solution
CC Extractor – produces subtitle files from closed captions
Rev.com – transcription, subtitling and captions
Zubtitle – captions for social media
Speakertext – cloud-worker generated captions

Inclusive Design Toolkit

Every design decision can make the user experience better or worse. Successful inclusive design requires informed decision-making at the concept stage, because it can become prohibitively expensive to make changes later on. This kit describes the four main phases of inclusive concept design: Manage: Review the evidence to decide ‘What should we do next?’ Explore: … More

Seeing the Funny Side

Project overview Part of BFI Comedy Genius, Sign for All collaborated with Women Over Fifty Film Festival (WOFFF) and The New Black Film Collective (TNBFC) in screening silent short films for the deaf community in Birmingham’s MAC and London’s Stratford East Picturehouse. The screenings also included stand up Deaf Comedian Rinkoo Barpaga. Why the project … More

Opening Our Doors was a day of workshops and talks developed by Film Hub Wales, aimed at highlighting inclusivity and equality in film exhibition. The event was aimed at exhibitors seeking to capacity build within their own cinemas. It was a tailor-made day of workshops, case studies and discussions by experts and FAN members for FAN members aimed to boost exhibitor confidence in being more inclusive.

Working closely with Film Hub Scotland, and forming part of their Amplify programme, an Opening our Doors day was delivered in January 2019 to support members of the network in understanding and engaging with diverse communities including low-income, BAME, and disabled groups. The event also referenced programming, and marketing for diverse audiences.

The BFI diversity standards task exhibitors with supporting better inclusion in cinema, such as inclusion for those with additional needs and for those who might feel culturally excluded.

Many of us know about the barriers that are in front of us when we talk about building diverse audiences. We don’t really get the time to consider and talk about our options, our fears, talk to our peers and come up with solutions to improve what we offer.

Diversity and Inclusion: an overview - Myriam Mouflih

Race and unconcious bias in film - Umulkhayr Mohamed

How to welcome lower income communities into your cinema - Helen Wright