Third Captioned Movies Forum
Friday 3 November 2000 HREOC Sydney
Summary of meeting
As agreed at the meeting of April 28, 2000 the Forum reconvened at the HREOC offices in Sydney on November 3, 2000.
The following organisations and individuals participated in the Forum:
- Australian Association of the Deaf
- Deafness Forum of Australia
- National Working Party on Captioning
- Hoyts Cinemas
- Greater Union Cinemas
- Village Roadshow
- United International Pictures
- Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia
- Buena Vista (Walt Disney)
- Consolidated Press Holdings
- Australian Caption Centre
- Dr John Byrne
- HREOC
- Forum Chaired by Deputy Disability Discrimination Commissioner Innes
Open captioned cinema trial
Deputy Commissioner Innes invited representatives from film exhibitors to present a summary of the findings of the open captioning trials that had taken place in Sydney and Melbourne during August and September.
Industry representatives reported that the response from people attending the screenings was overwhelmingly positive, but expressed their concern about the low attendance rates and the supply and print costs associated with open captioned movies. Their feeling was that people had chosen not to go to an open captioned screening. They noted that there is essentially only one source for open captioned movies in the US and that the numbers of captioned movies available was limited.
Representatives from community organisations questioned some aspects of the promotion and organisation of the trials and noted that with any new technology there is always a build up period for people to get used to it.
While Forum participants disagreed over the conclusions to draw from the trial all agreed that it provided information that could be used to build on and extend the provision of captioned movies.
New technology opportunities
The Forum discussed the possible benefits arising from the introduction of digital technology in the film area. Trials are taking place in different parts of the world and it is expected that Sweden will be the first country to show digital films in 2002. Industry representatives saw the new technology as a major development that would make the provision of captioned movies far easier and less costly. Community representatives agreed that the new technology offered new opportunities, but noted that whatever the technology the strong preference throughout the world at this point in time was for open captioning which allowed a customer to sit anywhere in the cinema.
Discussion on possible conciliation options
Deputy Commissioner Innes reviewed the purpose and status of a public inquiry into an individual's complaint, noting that issues raised in a complaint often had a broader systemic relevance. The Commission is required to attempt to resolve complaints by conciliation and the Forum provided an opportunity for all interested parties to contribute ideas and possible solutions to the issues raised in the complaint.
The inquiry is essentially concerned with assisting the Commission to investigate a complaint in order to decide what course of action to take. This could involve declining the complaint because, for example, the complaint lacked substance; deciding that an alternative and equivalent mechanism for resolving the issues existed elsewhere; deciding to attempt to conciliate an agreement between the parties or deciding to terminate the complaint on the grounds that it did not appear a conciliated outcome would be possible - in which case the complainant would have the option to refer their complaint to the Federal Court for a formal determination.
Deputy Commissioner Innes noted that the Commission had found that interested parties were often able to clarify the issues and identify possible solutions in the process of participating in an inquiry. There was nothing to stop parties trying to conciliate a complaint during the inquiry process. The complainant, with the support of the other community representatives present, had circulated a number of proposals in the form of a draft conciliated agreement prior to the Forum and industry representatives requested an opportunity to meet separately to discuss the proposals.
On their return the industry representatives stated that while they considered the proposals would be unachievable, they would agree to produce their own proposals for consideration by 2 December.
The Forum members discussed the broad framework within which it was hoped agreement could be found:
- Industry supported the extension of the trial on a more permanent basis to include additional cities and a wider selection of films Australia is currently dependent on the US based company TRIPOD to access captioned films and industry and the community need to work together to find ways to improve access, particularly to Australian films
- Participants in the Forum do not represent all the industry, at least 25% are independently operated, however, it can be expected that once captioned films are more readily available there will be a knock-on effect
- Proposals for extension of the trial on a more permanent basis should include details of screenings at a range of times including popular times
- A mechanism needs to be established to allow for continued discussions on the availability of open captioned films and the opportunities new technology such as digital technology might offer in the next few years
- A phased introduction of captioned films into smaller communities might be achieved through the means of an Action Plan. Agreement was reached that the proposals being developed on behalf of those industry organisations represented at the Forum would be circulated as soon as possible after 2 December and that the Commission would propose a way of moving forward.
Deputy Commissioner Innes expressed a view that the inquiry showed considerable promise at the moment that it will facilitate a broad agreement concerning the availability of captioned films.