Hawai'i brings captions to deaf film lovers

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

"Bruce Almighty," which stars Jim Carrey, will kick off open-caption screenings at Signature Dole Cannery. Three other films will be offered in the next month. Universal Pictures Open-caption screenings: At Signature Dole Cannery "Bruce Almighty," today and tomorrow "The Italian Job," Sept. 3 "Terminator 3," Sept. 17 "Finding Nemo," Oct. 1

"My kids, who can hear, were laughing, laughing, laughing, and I felt lost," said Pawn-White, a Lanakila Rehabilitation Center employee.

All that's changing, with the launching of open caption movies for the deaf community, beginning with screenings of "Bruce Almighty," the Jim Carrey comedy, tonight and tomorrow at the Signature Dole Cannery theaters. More titles, including "Nemo," will follow.

"It's the first time that there will be (selected) films with open captioning," said Moloka'i-born Pawn-White, who lived in Texas for the past 20 years and had regular access to captioned films for the deaf community.

Through the Internet, she sought help from InSightCinema, a Los Angeles nonprofit organization that provides captions to movies. "We should have opportunities to enjoy hit movies, too," she said.

Nancy Linke-Ellis, president of InSight Cinema, asked her to help select a suitable theater for the screenings and she picked Dole Signature "because it has the best sound system."

Linke-Ellis, deaf since age 4 but able to hear through a Clarion implant, said Hawai'i joins a network of 400 markets in 50 states to offer captioned movies, which differ from subtitled films, as in the foreign feature tradition.

Captioning is done by a company called Cinetyp, Linke-Ellis said, and contains audio clues with captioned dialogue "that's 98 percent verbatim. Half the power of film is what happens in the audio," she said.

Dialogue appears beneath the speakers; captions in the upper right corner of the film display audio clues, like announcements on the radio, or bombs bursting; a telephone icon "rings" if a phone rings on screen.

"If you are deaf, this is a good time to be deaf," Linke-Ellis said. "Technology allows the opportunity for the deaf or the hard of hearing to be included in just about everything."