SUBTITLING AND AUDIO COMMENTARY AT CINEMAS

Early day motion 683, tabled 17 January 2002 by Lord Bruce of Bennachie (Liberal Democrat). Signed by 67 members.

That this House welcomes the fact that 11 cinemas in the United Kingdom have been fitted with new equipment on an experimental basis to enable deaf and blind people to enjoy the cinema; that of these 11 cinemas, five have been fitted with both subtitle/caption and audio description facilities and six more have been fitted with audio description only; applauds the work of the Cinema Exhibitors Association for initiating the development and deaf organisations and the website www.yourlocalcinema.com for helping to promote these showings; but nevertheless regrets that relatively few films are subtitled, that Lord of the Rings has not yet been subtitled and that many deaf or blind people do not have the opportunity to share in the excitement of the latest moves; and calls upon Her Majesty's Government to work actively with film companies and cinema exhibitors so that cinemas in all main centres offer well advertised subtitled and audio commentary showings of the latest films.

Signatures by party: Labour 32, Liberal Democrat 16, Conservative 8, Labour/Co-operative 5, Plaid Cymru 2, Scottish National Party 2, UUP 2.