SANTA ANA : Special Showing of Film Set for Deaf

For the first time in Orange County, the deaf community will be able to see an open-captioned, first-run movie on the silver screen.

Organizers of the event hope the March 10 showing of “Back to the Future--Part II” will lead to regular screenings of open-captioned films, which are similar to subtitled movies. Proceeds from this special showing will benefit the Taft Hearing Impaired Elementary School in Santa Ana.

“The whole thing boils down to equal access,” said Steve Longacre, the school’s principal, “allowing us to enjoy a movie the way a person with normal hearing can.”

Although about 150,000 people in the county suffer from some hearing loss, the only open-captioned movies in the Los Angeles area are occasionally screened in Hollywood, Longacre said.

But if the upcoming benefit is a success, Jim Edwards, president of Orange County’s largest chain of movie cinemas, has promised to show the films at other venues.

“We’ll see how it’s received the first time,” Edwards said. “We felt it was a wonderful idea. There really seems to be a need out there, and we’re certainly willing to try it.”

Edwards Cinemas has donated the use of a 300-seat theater at Hutton Centre in Santa Ana.

Jan Eisman, a spokeswoman for the school, said tickets have been sold for about one-third of the theater seats. Many of those attending will be children from the school, which draws hearing-impaired students from La Habra to San Juan Capistrano.

“The kids are so excited,” she said. “This will be the first time that many of them have seen an open-captioned film.”

Because open-captioning is an expensive process, few first-run movies are available to the deaf public, Longacre said.

Tickets for the 11:30 a.m. benefit show are $8.50. For information, call (714) 241-6545.