Accessible Arts / arts + disability NSW

The Accessible Cinema program was launched by Professor Ron McCallum AO, United Nations Special Rapporteur for Disability, followed by a screening of A Good Man, (dir Safina Uberoi) about a struggling Australian farmer, his wife who has quadriplegia and their plans to open a brothel in the NSW rural town of Inverall.  This documentary was an entrant in the 2009 Foxtel Australian Documentary Price and went on to be awarded tie for first place along Contact (dir Martin Butler, Bentely Dean).

Safina Uberoi joined Genevieve Clay, 2009 Tropfest winner and Lester Bostock, founder of Metroscreen's Indigenous Television Production mentor training scheme and President of the Indigenous Disability Network, at the forum 'Representation and Engagement: enriched filmmaking by cast and crews with disability." This forum offered filmmakers, cast and crew an opportunity to create dialogue about the experiences of producing film about, by or with people who have disabilities.

Trialing Rear Window access technology at a special event for industry stakeholders and audiences with captioning and audio description access requirements, provided an opportunity for Accessible Arts to introduce this technology within the festival environment.

This was followed by two public screenings using Rear Window captioning for the first time in Australasia, initiating an important step forward in supporting and enabling the expansion of access technology in cinemas and theatres across Australia.

A screening of the film Cheri, (dir Stephen Frears), also included audio description in its use of the Rear Window technology, providing a fully accessible cinema experience and ensuring people with disability the opportunity to enjoy one of the largest film festivals in the world.

To find out more about cinemas that provide captioning and audio description go to www.yourlocalcinema.com.au.