Making the cinema accessible for all throughout Colombia

By reducing regulatory hurdles and providing financial incentives, the initiative wants to encourage cinema owners to make their facilities more accessible. The Ministry also developed an app offering audio descriptions, sign language, and subtitles corresponding to the audio-visual content of "Cine para todos".

The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology of Colombia (MINTIC) set out a roadmap called “Live Digital for the People” (“Plan Vive Digital para la Gente”) to promote access, effective use and massive appropriation of ICT, through policies and programs to improve the quality of life of every Colombian and increase sustainable development. Based on this initiative, with the purpose of making the digital world accessible to all Colombians, MINTIC developed “Cinema for Everyone” (“Cine para Todos”) a project that enables people with disabilities, in particular with visual and hearing impairments, to enjoy the cinema for free and even create their own movies.

Problems Targeted

In Colombia the attendance of people with disabilities at places of entertainment, specifically cinemas, is very low because the audiovisual content is not accessible.

Funding, Outlook and Transferability

The methodology developed in Cinema for Everyone is readily adaptable to other contexts. As a government initiative, the advocacy process has so far focused largely on cinemas to involve them in financially supporting the project. By reducing regulatory hurdles and providing financial incentives, cinema owners are being encouraged to make their facilities more accessible, thereby meeting the supply of and demand for digital services. During 2017, MINTIC developed an app and a free download that allows people with disabilities to enjoy a wide catalogue of audio descriptions, sign language, and subtitles corresponding to the audio-visual contents developed by this project. In 2017 over 3,500 people have downloaded the app, and users are expected to increase over time. MINTIC is advancing a sustainability study for the project, which should help to identify what actions are needed to involve more cinemas so that more Colombians can participate in the experience and, importantly, to help the project become financially self-sufficient. Currently, it is financed by the government.