Help for deaf and blind film fans

From: CBBC - London,England,UK - Feb 16, 2004

Going to the cinema is set to improve for film fans with sight and hearing problems.

Films are much easier to follow if cinemas have captioning and audio-description equipment, but only 22 UK cinemas are currently kitted out.

But now another 78 will be fitted with the equipment, allowing lots more people to enjoy going to the cinema.

The new equipment comes from the UK Film Council's Cinema Access Programme, who use lottery money to pay for it.

Website will help locate cinemas

A website has also been set up, to let people know where the re-fitted cinemas are.

The boss of the fund, Peter Buckingham, said: "We want to help all sectors of the community to enjoy film, which is such an important part of our culture.

"In the past, too many people with impaired sight and hearing have been cut off from the world of cinema."

Fact File
Captioning and audio-description

* Captioning is like subtitles on the TV, but describes some of the other noises happening in the film as well as the actors speaking

* Audio description isn't just the words said by actors. It also describes what is happening on screen and what actors are doing

© BBC