Viral post sparks calls for subtitles in PH cinemas for deaf audiences

“My friend is deaf, and sobrang excited kaming panoorin yung new released spiderman movie,” she wrote. “Ilang beses ko pa siyang inaya kasi gusto talaga naming mapanood together. Akala namin may subtitles, pero pag-start ng movie, wala pala.”

The user said she was disheartened because while she could follow the movie, her friend spent two hours watching it—without understanding the dialogue or sharing in the audience reactions.

“This isn’t just for my friend. Para rin ’to sa lahat ng deaf and hard-of-hearing people na gusto lang ma-enjoy ang panonood ng sine tulad ng iba,” the user said, adding that everyone deserves to enjoy movies.

The post has since gone viral, with many users echoing the call for subtitles in regular cinema screenings.

“[A]lways campaigned for the use of captions in movie houses, not just for the deaf community but for us na hindi maka-keep up sa complicated and fast-paced dialogue exchange na minsan close to mumbling na 😭,” one comment said.

Some commenters cited countries like Singapore and Malaysia, which put subtitles in English and their native languages for movie screenings. They expressed hope that the Philippines would follow suit.

The original poster acknowledged one comment about some local cinemas that already hold special movie screenings for the deaf and blind, but she said she hopes subtitles could also become available in regular screenings.

“[P]ara di na nila kelangan mag hintay pa,” she said, “and magkaroon sila ng maraming option and also para di na nila kelangan ma-separate. 🙏🏻🩷”

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