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Media ArticleDeaf people finally get access to Australian FilmsMedia Release - 31 May 2007Deaf Australia is delighted with the announcement by the Australian Film Finance Corporation (FFC) that they will require captions on all feature films that they finance from 1 July 2007.This means that from 1 July 2007 producers seeking funds from the FFC will have to ensure that their films are captioned for cinema release and for DVD release. The FFC will have a pool of funds available specifically for this purpose. The decision by the FFC comes as a result of a complaint to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. A deaf man from Perth, John Byrne, complained that he had been discriminated against because two Australian films that he wanted to see and that had been financed by the FFC, were not captioned and so he did not have equal access to them. "This is a fabulous response by the Film Finance Corporation, and will have an impact on all Deaf and hard of hearing Australians, not just on one deaf person from Perth. We applaud John Byrne for his courage in making the complaint, and we applaud the FFC for their positive response to it," said Deaf Australia President Kyle Miers. Currently Deaf and hard of hearing people have limited access to captioned films in a limited number of cinemas that have equipment to screen captions, but the only films available with captions come from overseas. This decision by the FFC means that for the first time Deaf and hard of hearing Australians will have equal access to Australian films.
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