Scott Simser bought a ticket to see the matinee showing of I Love You, Man, at the Kanata AMC theatre. He settled into the third row from the main aisle in cinema five, and adjusted the rearview mirror–type device in the seat's cupholder. A teleprompter on the back wall of the cinema was reflected in the contraption, showing the captions for the movie without obscuring Simser's view of the screen.

Simser is deaf person, and the technology, called Rear Window Captioning (RWC), is the only way he can enjoy movies on the big screen.Before he went to the AMC on March 21, it had been nine years since he was in a theatre. When he was living in Toronto, he watched a James Bond film at a Famous Players.

"I wrote a letter to Famous Players, asking for captioning, but nothing happened within six months," he said, "and so I started a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission in September of 2000."

Two other deaf people joined Simser in his campaign, and they added a few more Hollywood film companies to the grievance. Two years ago, a settlement was reached.

The commission required over a dozen theatres across the province to phase in the technology and new cinemas built between 2009 and 2013 to include RWC.

The Kanata AMC had the option for the first time last weekend.

"I feel I have accomplished my goal, but would still like to have new technology that allows every single movie, in every single theatre, to be closed captioned, all the time," said Simser, a Kanata lawyer.

Closed captioning visible just to those with the viewing device is different from open captioning, which displays the dialogue on the main screen for everyone to see. Simser said some find that distracting, so RWC is a great alternative.

"This technology is relatively new, having been first introduced in 1997, and we have been adding theatres with RWC every year since," said Andy DiOrio, corporate communications manager for AMC Entertainment. He said more than 170 AMC theatres in Ontario now have the captioning option for hearing–impaired people.

"It's very exciting to have," said Kanata AMC general manager Jason Riendeau, who set up the device for Simser on Saturday.

Simser said the captioning isn't as important for action–driven films, but it's essential to appreciate movies with more conversation.

"I would have enjoyed a fraction of it if I saw it without captioning," he said after watching I Love You, Man, a romantic comedy. "There was rapid–fire dialogue, jokes, and complex layers of information conveyed through speech that practically defined the entire movie."

Though not all movies are filmed with captioning as an option, Watchmen was, and that's the next film on Simser's list to see.

"I feel great to finally be seeing a captioned movie in my own hometown," he said.

Source: http://www.yourottawaregion.com