Thursday, February 17, 2011

Director, Harlan Schneider, Needs Your Support as He Pushes for Fully Captioned Films

Los Angeles film director, Harlan Schneider, is an advocate for fully captioning films for the deaf and hard of hearing.  His latest film, "Claustrophobia," is currently available with full captions via Video on Demand.

According to Mr. Schneider's story on Indiegogo.com, "“Claustrophobia” is a recently completed psychological thriller about a young deaf man whose world closes in on him when he becomes entangled in a nasty real estate dispute with his sadistic next-door neighbor." 

The film stars actor, Russel Harvard, who has had roles in "There Will Be Blood" and the soon to be released, "Hamill."

There are more than 30 million deaf and hard of hearing individuals in the United States and these days, everybody watches T.V.  I have been ranting, raving, screaming, cussing, moaning, and complaining about the lack of captions available for quite some time.  I even started the Facebook Group, Citizens Against Films without Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.  I have not had much of a chance to market the group or try to garner any kind of following, but I have gained a few fans just by sharing my concerns and I hope I'll gain a few more after posting this!  It's time for the Deaf community to come together!

The Deaf and Hard of Hearing community can not just stand by and hope that the film industry will come around.  Their are 30 million of us and we are all consumers; if they want us to be customers, then they will have to caption their films.  If they won't do it voluntarily, then it is about time we demand it of them!  And that is exactly the point, we have to demand it.  If there is no demand, then why would they bother?  While we may argue about Deaf politics amongst ourselves, this is one issue we should all be able to agree upon.  I don't see how it's any different than forcing a business to put a handicapped parking space close to the front door of a honky tonk bar.  It may be entertainment but we are willing to pay for it if you make it accessible. We are a powerful consumer base with money in our pockets and it just doesn't make sense for the industry to ignore us if they know there is a demand!  Say only half of those people are in the target market for my product, I'd be willing to spend a few extra dollars to attract 15 million new potential customers.

Harlan and his crew are trying to earn $5000 towards promoting their film.  Mostly they want to be able to show it all over the country and pay for his and Harvard's travel expenses so that they can go along and promote the movie. 

Give what you can, whether you have cash in your pocket to donate, a blog to pass it on, or even just sharing on your Facebook and Twitter pages will help!  It's time we all do whatever we can to get all video captioned and accessible!And please watch the film if it's available on your service!

You can access "Claustrophobia" via VOD:
CHARTER AT&T U-VERSE RODGERS (CANADA) DISH VOD MEDIACOM SUDDENLINK RCN EASTLINK COMMUNICATIONS BRESNAN FRONTIER WAVE BLUE RIDGE ATLANTIC BROADBAND BEND ACCESS COMMUNICATIONS (CANADA) HTC CLICK HARGRAY CINCINNATI BELL SOURCE CABLE (CANADA) NORTHWEST TEL CABLE (CANADA) BLUEWATER (CANADA) SEASIDE (CANADA) NTELOS JAMES VALLEY ENHANCED TELECOM CABLE CABLE (CANADA) VERIZON FIOS (BEGINS FEBRUARY 11) 

And when you're done with that, hop on over to Facebook and join the group, " Citizens Against Films without Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.