criterionforum.org

TMDaines wrote:There's open source software that can remove all hard-of-hearing aspects from subtitles in seconds.

Raymond Marble wrote:I just got Borgman on blu-ray from Netflix, and unless I'm completely crazy, the subtitles that automatically came up, which were not optional and could not be switched to anything else, were English subtitles for the hearing impaired (i.e. complete with [footsteps] [dog barking] etc. descriptions of foley sounds). I tried both the pop-up and main menus, the subtitle button on my remote, and everything else I could think of, but nothing changed them. It was a bummer.

They know about it, are upset about it, and are working on fixing it as soon as tomorrow. No word yet obviously about replacement discs or anything like that but an announcement should be coming soon.

Dave Kehr wrote:The two sides of the Cannes Film Festival-its extravagant showmanship and its underlying seriousness-came together Saturday in the context of ”Cinema and Liberty,” a daylong event that was the festival`s contribution to France`s bicentennial year.

More than 100 filmmakers from around the world, ranging from such international celebrities as Bernardo Bertolucci (an Academy Award winner for ”The Last Emperor”) to representatives of struggling Third World cinemas (Souleymanne Cisse of Mali, Lino Brocka of the Philippines), gathered in the echoing reception hall of Cannes` Palais des Festivals to discuss ”what role their cinema has played in defending freedom”-a freedom defined by the French Revolution`s definition of ”The Rights of Man” 200 years ago.

The freedoms under scrutiny were sometimes political, sometimes personal and often economic. For Fernando Solanas, a leftist director in Argentina, a country that has only recently recovered a freedom of expression, the most powerful repressive force remained the international dominance of Hollywood-” a new colonialism,” Solanas said, ”that destroys the identity of all other cultures by imposing a uniform vision of the world.”

American director Jerry Schatzberg (”Scarecrow”), present in Cannes with his new film ”Reunion,” pointed out that Hollywood`s power was ”a cultural problem in the States as well. As long as people are going to make a lot of money selling certain films, those are the films that are going to be made.”

English, particularly with an American accent, has indeed imposed itself as the international language of commercial filmmaking: In South America, one director noted, European films are often dubbed into English and then subtitled in Spanish to give the impression that they are American-made. John Berry, an American director who has lived in France since he was blacklisted during the ”Red scare” of the 1950s, noted that when he first came to Europe his producers insisted that he film in French, ”but now they want me to shoot everything in English.” (Two other American blacklist victims, Jules Dassin and Ring Lardner Jr., were also present.)

The liveliest moment of the 6-hour debate came when Greek director Theo Angelopoulos demanded to know why Bertolucci had shot ”The Last Emperor” in the ”imperialist language of English.”

”I have a financial obligation to film in the language with the widest possibility of exploitation,” Bertolucci shot back, ”and I refuse to be lectured here like a schoolboy.” (Needless to say, the discussion was held in the imperialist language of French.)

Significantly few voices were heard from those countries where language is the least of a filmmaker`s problems. Czechoslovakian filmmaker Jiri Menzel spoke bravely but sadly:

”You have asked a person from the East to say something. It`s not easy for us to speak of freedom, because we are all more or less employees of the state. We Eastern filmmakers are like domesticated animals-they feed us, they take care of us, while you in the West are like wild animals who live and hunt in the forest. We have learned to be pets.”

Dave Kehr wrote:The liveliest moment of the 6-hour debate came when Greek director Theo Angelopoulos demanded to know why Bertolucci had shot ”The Last Emperor” in the ”imperialist language of English.”

”I have a financial obligation to film in the language with the widest possibility of exploitation,” Bertolucci shot back, ”and I refuse to be lectured here like a schoolboy.” (Needless to say, the discussion was held in the imperialist language of French.)