How to pronounce "basia"

Transcriber: Joanna Pietrulewicz Reviewer: Capa Girl

Hello. My name is Ewa Marcinek

and I would like to tell you a story about the cinema for the blind.

This expression, cinema for the blind,

can be associated with another enclosed space.

Another ghetto for disabled people.

And this is exactly the situation we would like to avoid.

In our opinion, cinema should be a meeting place.

I mean the universal, multidimensional meaning of the word.

A meeting as a shared contact on equal terms.

It's also a meeting of two different worlds.

People able to experience images

and people without this ability.

From the beginning, it became clear for us

that this division is very apparent.

The division between people able and unable to experience images.

And --

We believe that thanks to the magic of the cinema

such an experience can become something extraordinary,

even something mystical.

And the question was: What is disability?

And we knew that the whole idea of disability will be tested

and it will be transformed with the confrontation of reality.

My today's talk is related to the cinema.

So we thought that the story we wanted to tell you,

the story about the cinema for the blind,

could be narrated in their own dramatic structure.

A screenplay structure.

So, it's now time for act one: Introduction.

Every story has its beginning.

For us it was the first contact with the subject of audio description.

As a cultural institution we took part in a conference in Warsaw

devoted to the question:

How to help blind people and expand their access to culture?

At this meeting in Warsaw we met two people, Basia and Tomek,

with whom we cooperate until today.

Basia and Tomek are involved in the popularization of audio description.

They travel around the country,

teaching and talking about audio description.

And they both are blind.

So, they are very brave.

They travel alone

and everything they can count on is human kindness.

After meeting Basia and Tomek we just wanted to know

whether our concept of the cinema for the blind will succeed at all

and where it will lead us.

So now it's time for act two: Rising action.

It was time for ан effective action for us.

We already knew what we wanted and how to do it.

First, we didn't want the cinema only for the blind.

The priority for us was integration.

We believed that integration is the most important thing

in this meeting in the cinema.

And second, we knew that we had a problem,

because audio description can become something like invasion

in the comfort of the audience's reception.

For sighted people audio description can become

something like an unwanted guest, who appeared uninvited

and destroyed their relaxing time in the cinema.

So the only way to provide comfort to all participants of the film projection

was a "camouflage" audio description.

If you know something about audio description,

you know that this technique is to describe everything.

Lector, based on previously prepared scripts, describes everything.

From general to specific, without judging or evaluating.

And now I will explain to you how it works, the audio description.

So, in the cinema there is a lector, who is located in a soundproof room.

And in the audience people have headphones with IR receivers

or radio receivers, it doesn't matter.

So during the live projection the lector reads the text,

the audio script,

and the lector's voice provides to the audience,

without disturbing the rest of the people.

So -- Sorry --

Until this day we have managed to show only one film. On DVD.

It was our great success, I must say.

Because creating an audio description is a very tedious and time-consuming job.

But I was talking about these technical requirements.

But it's not really a problem.

In our story it was just a basic conflict

followed by subsequent various problems,

obstacles and risks that frustrated our attempt to reach the goal.

The first real big complication

appeared between us and film distributors.

Because in Poland audio description is something very new.

So it's also very problematic for lawyers,

for law, also for copyrights problems.

So in Poland there are not enough legal regulations

to provide audio description.

There is not enough earning standards

and not enough procedures.

Not enough verification.

The verification system is not --

not as it should be.

And the most important:

the audio description is not something like standardization.

It's not standardized.

And as I suggested earlier,

it was pretty hard to convince the sighted part of the audience

that they're dealing with a normal film.

Not a strange kind of film for the disabled,

not a really different kind of film for blind people.

Those who risked and participated in our film projection

weren't disappointed at all.

They were grateful.

And just before the third act will take place,

I must admit that --

that we betrayed the classic screenplay structure.

We never succumbed to despair.

It's that moment in the story,

when the weakness prevails over the faith in success

and the goal seems unattainable.

And now I will explain how it works for us as an organizer.

It's easy.

If you want to go to a film premiere,

you simply buy a ticket to the cinema.

A blind person doesn't have this possibility.

Doesn't have this possibility.

And if you are an organizer,

even if you have found a cinema, which has necessary equipment,

like headphones, like IR or radio receivers,

like a special soundproof room for the lector,

even if you have found that

and even if you have found a lector,

who will read the text during live projection,

and even if you have found an experienced --

I mean, very experienced person, who will make a script for the film,

even if you have found these three elements,

you still need to wait at least six months

for the first DVD release.

Because, as I said earlier,

creating audio description is a very tedious and time-consuming job.

It can only work with DVD copy.

And think about that:

What about the films that will never appear on DVD at all?

The blind people won't experience them at all.

So, in short,

the blind people do not have access to current cinema repertoire at all.

And the blind people do not have access to complete film heritage.

And the next complication was surprising for us.

Because it turned out that most blind people in Poland

have no idea what audio description is and how it works.

And it's now time for act three: Climax.

After a few projections

we began to receive first phone calls with questions:

"When do you plan to do another projection with audio description?"

It was a great feeling for us.

First major sign that our projections are popular

and our viewers began to inform each other.

And I must say

that very important for us was the next sign.

Because our viewers came outside of Wrocław.

And they cover over 150 miles one way

to spend only two hours in the cinema.

I must repeat that,

because 150 miles one way, to spend only two hours in the cinema,

it shows how important the cinema and the film is for them.

For the first signs that our work was good we waited almost a year.

But now we know it was worth it.

And --

We host visitors from different parts of Lower Silesia in our cinema.

Also we have more friends, more allies,

people, for whom audio description is a great passion.

And in the end, for the screenplay writer,

the most important is to find the balance.

And it's also our goal.

For us, in our story,

balance can be substituted by another word.

Oh, sorry.

Balance and harmony can be substituted with another word: standardization.

And it's all we are fighting for.

Standardization.

It's the way to provide audio description

as a normality to our life and our culture.

And the thing we are talking about

is that it should be legal, social and cultural standardization

and thinking about audio description as a normality.

And standardization provides equal access to cultural heritage.

Thank you. (Applause)

But today with me, also in the audience,

is Marek Kotula, whom I would like to introduce.

Marek, please stand up.

(Applause)

Because he is one of the most involved people in Wrocław

in creation of the cinema for the blind.

He is an author of the scripts,

he invites people to our center

to show them how audio description works

and to give them this opportunity to watch audio description.

And also last week -- He's also a lector in our cinema.

So, last week he made first audio description for a theater production.

So, thanks to people like Marek we can really change this situation.

Thank you, Marek.

(Applause)