Deaf filmmakers raise accessibility awareness

From: Boston Globe, MA - Oct 19, 2003

By Loren King

Massachusetts' first Festival of Cinema for the Deaf takes place today at Holy Cross College in Worcester and on Nov. 1 at Northeastern University. This touring festival of short films by deaf filmmakers, founded by the Chicago Institute for the Moving Image (CIMI), brings films and filmmakers to cities around the world to champion the cause of captioning and accessibility. Festival founders Liz Tannebaum, an Emmy-winning actress, and Joshua Flanders, executive director of CIMI, will be present for the Nov. 1 screenings.

The shorts span all genres and are directed by and/or star deaf artists from around the world. All films are captioned or subtitled in English and many contain American Sign Language. The program, which starts at noon and runs for five hours, includes discussions with the filmmakers.

For more information, visit www.deafcinema.org.

Loren King can be reached at loren.king@comcast.net.

© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.