It's a local one... but it gives me hope that change will eventually come.
So let's start at the beginning shall we?
As you know, I've been helping Deafie Blogger with her fantastic subtitled cinema campaign for a while now. We've had some progress, which you can read about here. My subtitled cinema tweet went viral which you can read about here. And I even went on Sky News to talk about it, which you can watch here.
If you look very carefully at my appearance on Sky News, you might have noticed that I was in fact, 8 months pregnant. And that means that recently I've had my hands full with the arrival of FFB. He is now three months old and absolutely marvellous.
Anyway, with motherhood now a major feature of my life, I thought that my cinema-going days were behind me for a time so I began to stop tracking what subtitled films were showing in my area.
Since having FFB, I've become part of a wonderful group of women thanks to my NCT classes and we meet up regularly. And when one of them suggested we go to parent and baby movie screamings, my heart sank a little bit as I know that they wouldn't be subtitled. I checked out the website, and they weren't.
So I dropped the cinema an email and asked them whether they would consider subtitling the parent and baby showings because after all, the subtitles might be helpful for the tired hearing parents in the noisy cinema, too.
And guess what? They came straight back to me and said, yes this was something they had considered in the past and that they would put out a survey and if it was largely positive, then they would consider a trial period.
Well guess what? When asked, 90% of people came back in favour of subtitled parent and baby screeenings.
90%
And on Wednesday, I went to my first ever subtitled screening with a three month old baby in tow. I went to see Last Christmas and I loved it. It was feel good and Christmassy and I liked the plot twist but mostly I loved that I was doing something that hearing people take for granted. Going to the cinema.
FFB's review of Last Christmas however was mixed. He slept through the first half, ate a bit and then stared at the very pregnant lady behind us for the last bit. But at no point did he scream, which was very reassuring. And the best bit for me is that because I cannot really hear babies crying, the cinema was brilliantly quiet for me regardless of what mayhem was going on around me.
At the end of the film we were handed feedback sheets where you could let the cinema know what you thought of the subtitles and I really hope that most people gave positive feedback. I asked at the box office on the way out and the lovely person there said that largely people said yes they liked them and the people that had said no said they would tolerate them if they knew there was a deaf person in the audience.
Which I will take as a win.
And while this is a very small local win - and only really useful to you if you are a deaf mama in West London, what I find incredibly bolstering is that a cinema was willing to listen and try something. They didn't just say, 'Oh no, we cannot do that as hearing people will complain.' They were open to trying subtitles.
I really hope the trial continues after January but in case if doesn't I plan to go to as many of the films as possible. I plan to get a small taste of what it's like to be a regular cinema goer. And I plan to make memories with FFB of going to the cinema with him, in case it's something I never really get to do again.
And what was this amazing cinema called?
Watermans Art Centre in Brentford. Despite not being a huge cinema, they also do regular subtitled showings that aren't filled with screaming babies. And they have lots of other great things going on, too.
Go and show them some love on Twitter. Go and let them know that they are wonderful for being willing to give subtitled cinema a go where it's not usually done. Go use their example as a shining beacon of hope of a cinema who asks hearing people if they mind subtitles and finds that 90% have no issue with them.
And then keep telling the big cinemas this information. Keeping telling them that one hearing person complaining has the potential to ruin cinema for an entire country of deaf people. The potential to ruin date nights, social trips with friends and in my case the chance to spend time with the women who really understand what my life is like right now. The women who support me at 3am when FFB thinks it's time to play or when I just need a hug in the middle of the cafe when he's projectiled down me and is screaming the place down.
Watermans gave me the chance to spend time with those women and watch a movie. And for that I will be forever grateful.
Happy Friday peeps and keep the Subtitled Cinema campaign going wherever you are.
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