57th TIFF: Cinema for All - Accessibility at TIFF's Facilities & Films

57th THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
November 3-13, 2016
 
CINEMA FOR ALL - ACCESSIBILITY AT TIFF’S FACILITIES & FILMS

 
The Thessaloniki International Film Festival, in collaboration with the Onassis Foundation and the Onassis Cultural Centre as accessibility sponsors, and the Movement of Artists with Disabilities as accessibility advisor, is improving the accessibility of its facilities and sharing the magic of cinema with all viewers without exception.
 
Facilities:
The accessibility improvements will begin during the 57th ΤΙFF at the Olympion theatre, the theatres and the Cinema Museum of Thessaloniki at the Port, and at the ticket box office at Aristotelous Square, thus making TIFF’s venues friendlier and more accessible to people with physical disabilities (accessibility will include the restrooms and disabled parking spaces).
 
More specifically, the improvements include ramps, appropriately modulated ticket offices and restrooms for people with disabilities, but also for people with reduced mobility. In addition, unhindered movement corridors for wheelchair users and the standing disabled will gradually be created on Pier A, in order to facilitate access to theaters and the Cinema Museum of Thessaloniki.
 
Content (films):
The aim of universal access does not only concern the facilities but also what goes on inside them, which is film screenings. The 57th TIFF’s audiences will be able to enjoy two all-time classics and perennial favorites of Greek cinema with universal accessibility conditions for all viewers. These films are The Ogre of Athens by Nikos Koundouros and We Only Have One Life by Yorgos Tzavellas which will be screened with audio description [AD] for the blind and visually impaired, and SDH [Subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing] (curation and certification by the Movement of Artists with Disabilities).
 
Moreover, 17 Greek films will be also screened with Greek subtitles based on the dialogues, for the deaf and the hard-of-hearing.
 
In addition, guide dogs for the blind are of course welcome in TIFF’s theatres. The festival’s program will be available in Braille, as well as in a big font, while the opening and closing ceremonies and the two universally accessible screenings will have a simultaneous interpretation in Greek Sign Language [GSL].
 
After this year’s Festival, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, the Onassis Cultural Centre and the Movement of Artists with Disabilities will offer all processed subtitles and audio descriptions to the films’ producers, in order to maintain the films’ accessibility in their future screenings or DVD releases.  
 
Please note that the Onassis Foundation sponsorship includes accessibility improvement of the facilities (an offer available not only for the 57th TIFF but also for the future), while the Onassis Cultural Centre supports accessibility to the Festival’s content/films.