Senator the Hon. George Brandis S.C.

Minister for the Arts and Sport

The Minister for Arts and Sport, Senator George Brandis, today welcomed an initiative of Australia’s Film Finance Corporation (FFC) to introduce, from July, captioning for deaf and hard of hearing audiences, on all feature films it finances.

“The compulsory captioning which is being introduced by the Film Finance Corporation will mean it is the first time deaf and hard of hearing Australians will have equal access to Australian films,” Senator Brand said.

“The new FFC guidelines will provide greater access to Australian films which are an important and reflective aspect of Australian culture.”

According to the Film Finance Corporation Investment Guidelines, producers who seek FFC funding will be required to caption all feature films for cinema and DVD release. The Film Finance Corporation has agreed to pay for the cost of captioning each film. Until now captioned feature films have only been available in Australia for films produced overseas.

According to the Human Rights Commissioner and Commissioner responsible for Disability Discrimination, Graeme Innes AM, there are currently more than three million deaf or hearing impaired people living in Australia.

Visit http://ffc.gov.au/investment to read more about the FFC Investment Guidelines.

Media contact: Travis Bell 0448 950 248

8 June 2007

50-07