Skip to Content Skip to Main Menu Skip to Submenu Skip to Search View Mobile site

You are here:

Latest News

November 2011
Date Published	News headline and description
29 November 2011	Latest communiqué from the Accessible Cinema Advisory Group The Accessible Cinema Advisory Group (ACAG) convened by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs to oversee and advise on the implementation of accessible screens, has released a third communiqué to the public.
29 November 2011	Petition win for blind and vision impaired movie fans The major cinema chains, Hoyts, Village, Event/Greater Union/Birch Carroll & Coyle and Reading, have announced that they will accept Blind Citizens Australia (BCA) membership cards as identification for audio description equipment loans.
25 November 2011	Rear Window Captioning arrives in Australia Work is underway to get Melbourne’s IMAX cinema ready to introduce a closed captioning system that will enable deaf and hearing impaired cinema-goers to enjoy documentaries and movies on the world’s third largest screen. This is the first time this particular technology has been used outside North America.
24 November 2011	China to produce accessible movies China’s Government has held a press conference in Beijing this week to promote its pledge to produce captioned, interpreted and audio described movies.
21 November 2011	Five new Hoyts locations to begin accessible cinema programs From Thursday, 1 December Hoyts Cinemas will add a further five locations to its list of complexes across Australia screening movies with closed captions and audio description.
18 November 2011	Event Cinemas announce new accessible locations From Thursday, 8 December onwards Event Cinema locations at Castle Hill in Sydney and Chermside in Brisbane will join the growing list of cinemas nationally that will show captioned and audio described movies.
11 November 2011	Carousel Hoyts announces switch-off date for open captioned movies Following on from yesterday’s announcement of Village Cinemas’ Jam Factory location in Melbourne ending its open captioned sessions, Hoyts Cinemas has announced that its Carousel complex in Perth will also screen its last open captioned and audio described movie on Sunday 23 November.
10 November 2011	Village Jam Factory announces switch-off date for open captioned movies South Yarra cinema Village Jam Factory has announced that its last open captioned session will be on Monday 14 November.
08 November 2011	Sydney Festival provides captioned and audio described performances Sydney siders will have the chance to see open captioned and audio described performances as part of the annual Sydney Festival, held from 7-29 January.
07 November 2011	Sydney’s iconic Belvoir St Theatre announces 2012 accessible performances One of Australia’s most enduring theatre companies, Belvoir, has announced audio described and captioned performances for 2012.
07 November 2011	Access All Areas Film Festival launches 2011 program The annual Access All Areas Film Festival commences its accessible movie screenings this month with three tour programs designed to attract a range of movie fans.
03 November 2011	Australian cinema loses an accessible cinema pioneer The staff at Media Access Australia were saddened to learn today of the death of Mark Sarfaty, the CEO of the Independent Cinemas Association of Australia (ICAA).
02 November 2011	US cinema chain installs closed caption technology in all its locations Midwest US cinema chain Marcus Theatres has announced its completion of digital cinema installation, including CaptiView to show closed captioned movies.

October 2011
Date Published	News headline and description
25 October 2011	The Captioning Studio announces new theatre project for kids GoTheatrical! Kids is a new project that aims to increase access to children’s theatre performances in Australia through captions.
17 October 2011	Three new audio described and closed captioned cinema locations It’s out with the old and in with the new at three Event/Greater Union/Birch Carroll & Coyle cinema locations with the introduction of closed captions and audio description this week.
14 October 2011	Perth gets a new accessible cinema Event Cinemas has notified Media Access Australia that its Innaloo Megaplex in suburban Perth will commence closed captioned and audio described sessions this month.
07 October 2011	Cinema access expands nationally: seven more locations announced Under the Federal Government’s Cinema Access Implementation Plan the major cinema chains of Hoyts, Village, Event/Greater Union/Birch Carroll & Coyle and Reading will commence accessible screenings at an extra seven locations by the end of the year.

September 2011
Date Published	News headline and description
29 September 2011	Accessible cinema technologies – now and the future Cinema and DVD project manager, Ally Woodford, talks through the technologies currently affecting access to movies in Australia.
27 September 2011	Sony’s subtitle glasses continue to earn promising responses from movie goers A live demonstration of Sony’s new subtitle glasses took place in London this week, with positive reports from attendees. Tom Fiddian from Action on Hearing Loss - formerly the Royal National Institute for Deaf People - attended the event and reported via Twitter (@tomfiddian and hash tag #Subtitleglasses).
26 September 2011	New mobile captioning system for visitors to US museums and galleries The National Center for Accessible Media, the development division of WGBH in Boston USA, has developed a mobile system to enhance the experience for visitors to cultural institutions who are deaf, hearing impaired or speak languages other than English.