Touch The Sound: *still* about deaf people, *still* not for deaf people
Two weeks ago I mentioned Touch The Sound: a film about deaf people, not for deaf people. twistedkat just got an email from the director himself:
thank you for your e-mail concerning Touch the Sound. I am the filmmaker and Carla forwarded your e-mail.
I am very much aware of the problem you mentioned. From my point of view I can say I never refused any subtitled version but I would not like all the prints to be subtitled. The main reason for that is that I never intended to make a "special film" for the hearing impaired audience but I wanted to give the "normal hearing persons" an experience. Saying that I do not want to exclude the hearing impaired from the cinema, but on the other hand I find it strange for the others to be distracted by subtitles in their own language. As a cameraman I also put a lot of effort in each single frame, so from my aesthetic point of view subtitles are always difficult. So for me there is a problem not easy to be solved.
I suggested to the distributors to have some prints subtitles and others not (and probably let the cinema choose) - but a theatrical release of a small film is very expensive and every distributor has to work with a small budget. I am sorry if the hearing impaired community feels in a way uneasy about the solution. I will discuss it again with distributors and world sales agent.
with best wishes
Thomas Riedelsheimer
One line sums up his response for me: "I never intended to make a "special film" for the hearing impaired audience but I wanted to give the "normal hearing persons" an experience." That sounds an awful lot like my initial characterization: "This is a film about deaf people but not for deaf people. Deafies can sit in the back of the bus and wait for the DVD."
Thomas finally said what others have speculated - that he wanted to offer a few prints with subtitles but they didn't have the budget. That's an encouraging admission, but absent from Riedelsheimer and Ken-the-distributor's email is any desire to find a reasonable solution. "We can't afford subtitles and the prints have already been made, but what can we do?" Here's what they can do: donate a print or two to InSight Cinema. InSight will subtitle the thing at their expense AND show it all over the country to deaf people.
What blows my mind is that this wasn't an obvious move in the first place. They presumably spent months with deaf people making this movie and the subject of "how would you guys watch this thing that we're making" never came up.
thank you for your e-mail concerning Touch the Sound. I am the filmmaker and Carla forwarded your e-mail.
I am very much aware of the problem you mentioned. From my point of view I can say I never refused any subtitled version but I would not like all the prints to be subtitled. The main reason for that is that I never intended to make a "special film" for the hearing impaired audience but I wanted to give the "normal hearing persons" an experience. Saying that I do not want to exclude the hearing impaired from the cinema, but on the other hand I find it strange for the others to be distracted by subtitles in their own language. As a cameraman I also put a lot of effort in each single frame, so from my aesthetic point of view subtitles are always difficult. So for me there is a problem not easy to be solved.
I suggested to the distributors to have some prints subtitles and others not (and probably let the cinema choose) - but a theatrical release of a small film is very expensive and every distributor has to work with a small budget. I am sorry if the hearing impaired community feels in a way uneasy about the solution. I will discuss it again with distributors and world sales agent.
with best wishes
Thomas Riedelsheimer
One line sums up his response for me: "I never intended to make a "special film" for the hearing impaired audience but I wanted to give the "normal hearing persons" an experience." That sounds an awful lot like my initial characterization: "This is a film about deaf people but not for deaf people. Deafies can sit in the back of the bus and wait for the DVD."
Thomas finally said what others have speculated - that he wanted to offer a few prints with subtitles but they didn't have the budget. That's an encouraging admission, but absent from Riedelsheimer and Ken-the-distributor's email is any desire to find a reasonable solution. "We can't afford subtitles and the prints have already been made, but what can we do?" Here's what they can do: donate a print or two to InSight Cinema. InSight will subtitle the thing at their expense AND show it all over the country to deaf people.
What blows my mind is that this wasn't an obvious move in the first place. They presumably spent months with deaf people making this movie and the subject of "how would you guys watch this thing that we're making" never came up.