Another Australasian Premiere for Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers

Hearing impaired and Deaf New Zealanders will get a chance to see the first Australasian captioned screenings of Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers from tomorrow.

Human Rights Commissioner Robyn Hunt welcomed the screenings and hoped they would lead to more mainstream films having captioned screenings in the future.

“Captioned screenings mean that many more New Zealanders are able to more fully enjoy popular films,” she said. “There are an estimated 420,000 - 450,000 New Zealanders who are either hearing impaired or Deaf.”

“Roadshow Film Distributors should be commended for taking the initiative to kick this off and I hope that other distributors will follow the lead.”

The first of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, had the first ever captioned screenings of a popular release title in New Zealand in November last year.

The Two Towers season will run from tomorrow until 11 March in Auckland and Wellington before the two captioned prints are sent to Australia.

Discussions continue on having captioned screenings of The Two Towers at other main centres.

Captioned film presentations are more explanatory than sub-titled films as they feature descriptions of sound effects as well as dialogue indicating who is speaking.

Ms Hunt emphasised that captioned screenings weren’t only for the hearing impaired and the Deaf. “You get the best of both worlds with captioned screenings and they could be a good compromise for those people who always complain that the book was better.”

The screenings will take place at Village Queen Street 12 in Auckland and Hoyts Manners Mall in Wellington. There will be two sessions each day in both cities. In Auckland the screenings are scheduled for:

Thursday 27 February - 11am and 7.30pm

Sunday 2 March - 11am and 7.30pm

Tuesday 4 March - 11am and 7.30pm

Thursday 6 March - 11am and 7.30pm

Sunday 9 March - 11am and 7.30pm

Tuesday 11 March - 11am and 7.30pm

In Wellington the screenings until Tuesday 4 March are scheduled for:

Thursday 27 February - 12noon and 7:45pm

Sunday 2 March - 1pm and 8:20pm

Tuesday 4 March - 12noon and 7:45pm

Screening times are subject to change and people should check newspaper directories for confirmed screenings.