Sundance Jury Walks Out in Protest of Failure to Provide Captions 

Today, if a film cannot maintain the proper representation and inclusivity for all cultures and disabilities, they’re bound to get an earful about it, as they should. And that’s just what happened at the Sundance Festival when a jury walked out of a screening for failure to provide open captions. 

In a report from Variety, the US Dramatic Competition’s prize jury walked out of the premiere of Jonathan Majors’ Magazine Dreams as a sign of protest over the unavailability of captions.  

The report states the festival tried to accommodate CODA star and juror Marlee Maitlin with a caption device, which malfunctioned and possibly delayed the screening by 45 minutes. But the real concern lay with the filmmaker’s denial to aid any deaf or hearing-impaired audiences, and thus the jury protested in a walkout. 

The jury does intend to screen the film at the Sundance festival before its end, but the issue they’ve raised definitely needs attention. 

Sundance Festival’s filmmakers must follow the example of Cannes and Venice to include open captions to accommodate those who don’t have the privilege of hearing. And while Sundance Institute’s CEO has made it clear that she’s on the jury’s side on this one, independent filmmakers involved in the longtime festival disagree. 

The filmmakers do not want additional costs that come with making another copy of the film with open captions and still remain adamant about not including captioning. They’ve also cited some buyers suggesting that the asking prices of the film drops in the market with the additional costs captioning would accrue. 

While the Sundance Institute does hold a responsibility to make sure all its films are inclusive to people with disabilities, the problem lies with the film industry’s thoughts on skirting costs over essential matters.  

Sundance has previously accommodated disabled people by hiring ASL translators and ensuring the grounds are wheelchair friendly. Even in this scenario, they did provide Maitlin with a captioning device, which just went wrong, delaying the film’s premiere, but at least they tried. 

The Sundance jury’s walkout has shone a light on one of the repeated problems of the film industry, and we hope it brings a new change to include all audiences.  

Source: Variety