If you’re among those who can’t watch a movie without subtitles, the Amherst Cinema has you covered.
Starting Oct. 29, the cinema is offering Open Caption Tuesdays, an effort to make movies more accessible for all.
Every Tuesday, new films will be shown on the big screen with open captioning on display. Open captioning offers subtitles for dialogue as well as sound descriptions.
According to a press release, the initiative is designed to appeal to those who are deaf or hard of hearing, those learning the English language, or cinema-goers who just enjoy reading along with the film.
Open Caption Tuesdays will supplement existing assistive technologies available at Amherst Cinema, including seat-mounted closed captioning, descriptive audio headsets and volume-boosting headsets.
“Serving as a film arts and education institution in our community means caring about the needs of our moviegoing audiences and the totality of their customer experience,” the cinema’s executive director, Yasmin Chin Eisenhauer, said in a statement. “Open Caption Tuesdays and Masked Mornings exemplify our commitment to community care and help ensure patrons continue to have choices in how they experience film at Amherst Cinema.”
For its inaugural “Open Caption Tuesdays” event Oct. 29, the following films will be screened with open captions: “Conclave,” at 1:35 p.m., 4:20 p.m., 7:05 p.m. and 9:45 p.m.; “My Old Ass,” at 1:55 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.; “The Outrun,” at 1:45 p.m. and 4:10 p.m.; “Rumours,” at 9:40 p.m.”; and “The Substance,” at 6:45 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Films are different genres and ratings, so it’s recommended that people look up information before deciding which film to see.
Additionally, Amherst Cinema continues to offer Masked Mornings on select days with reduced theater capacity and masking requirements. More information about that can be found on the Amherst Cinema website.
Future “Open Caption Tuesday” movie lineups and schedules will be posted online at amherstcinema.org. The next “Open Caption Tuesday” will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 5, with movie titles and screen times to be posted online.
