DTS (Digital Theater Systems, Inc.) received the Award for Excellence in Technology for achievement in cinema access for the deaf and hard-of-hearing from the Chicago Institute for the Moving Image (CIMI). Honored for developments in captioning and subtitling technology for film, DTS has opened new avenues for film distributors and exhibitors to present movies to this audience with the introduction of the DTS-CSS (Cinema Subtitling System.) CIMI presented this first annual award in Chicago during the annual Festival of Cinema for the Deaf, which attracts more than 3,000 attendees including academics, filmmakers and members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
Introduced in 2001 with subsequent success trials in the United Kingdom, the DTS-CSS projects captions or subtitles directly onto the screen using a small video projector, instead of etching or over-laying them onto the film itself. The result is a single-print solution for worldwide distribution in which standard release prints can be used with a DTS CD-ROM to run captioned or subtitled showings at any time. In 2002, the Festival of Cinema for the Deaf presented A Beautiful Mind and Monsters, Inc. using the DTS-CSS technology.
"DTS supports the rights of all individuals to enjoy the cinema experience, and we are proud that our technology can help make that experience accessible to everyone," said Mike Archer, Director, Cinema Division at DTS. "Events such as CIMI's Festival of Cinema for the Deaf are crucial to heightening awareness amongst the deaf and hard-of-hearing as well as the entire film industry."
"DTS has been a strong supporter of CIMI's Festival of Cinema for the Deaf, and because of DTS we've been able to present major Hollywood releases with captions of unbelievable clarity," said Joshua Flanders, Executive Director of CIMI. "We're pleased to recognize the contributions DTS is making in support of cinema for the deaf community."
