The accessible filmmaker and the global film

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Published: May 8, 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.6035/MonTI.2020.12.13
Keywords:
accessible filmmaker, accessible filmmaking, audiovisual translation, global film, media accessibility

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Pablo Romero-Fresco
University of Vigo

Abstract

As well as an alternative approach to audiovisual translation and media accessibility, accessible filmmaking (AFM), the integration of translation and accessibility into the filmmaking process through the collaboration of filmmakers and translators, is a new approach to filmmaking. The aim of this article is to ascertain what filmmakers need (in theory and practice) to become accessible filmmakers. Firstly, the reason for the gap between film and translation/media accessibility is explored and a new translation-oriented notion of film studies is presented. A new concept (the global film) is then introduced to help filmmakers widen their perspective beyond the original version of their films. Examples are provided of pioneering filmmakers who have already considered the global film and applied a similar approach to the AFM model.  Finally, the article looks at how the concept of the global film and the AFM model were applied to the feature-length documentary Where Memory Ends.

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How to Cite
Romero-Fresco, P. (2020). The accessible filmmaker and the global film. MonTI. Monographs in Translation and Interpreting, (12), 381–417. https://doi.org/10.6035/MonTI.2020.12.13
Issue
No. 12 (2020): Translation and Media Accessibility: from Theory to Practice / Traducción y Accesibilidad en los medios de comunicación: de la teoría a la práctica
Section
Articles

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Author Biography

Pablo Romero-Fresco, University of Vigo

Pablo Romero Fresco is a Ramón y Cajal researcher at the Universidade de Vigo (Spain) and Honorary Professor of Translation and Filmmaking at the University of Roehampton (London, UK). He is the author of Subtitling through Speech Recognition: Respeaking (Routledge), Accessible Filmmaking
(Routledge) and the editor of The Reception of Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Europe (Peter Lang). He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Audiovisual Translation and is the leader of the international research centre GALMA (Galician Observatory for Media Access), for which he is currently coordinating several international projects on media accessibility, including ILSA: Interlingual Live Subtitling for Access, funded by the EU Commission.
Pablo is also a filmmaker. His first documentary, Joining the Dots (2012), was screened during the 69th Venice Film Festival and was used by Netflix as well as film schools around Europe to raise awareness about audiodescription.

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