Mamífera is among my top favorites at SXSW 2024. There were no hearing problems, as the entire (mostly Catalonian) dialogue was subtitled.

“Lola (40) enjoys a happy life until an unforeseen pregnancy throws her plans into disarray. Resistant to motherhood and confronted by societal expectations, Lola and her boyfriend, Bruno, deal with the situation.”

https://schedule.sxsw.com/2024/films/2196936

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Challenges for the hard of hearing at SXSW start in the waiting lines. Even when the lines are only 100 feet, volunteers often don’t seem to realize that people in the back of the line can’t hear their announcements, and missing an announcement could mean missing a screening.

At best, they’ll walk up and down or other volunteers will relay the announcements, but they often don’t. It’s a problem with lines of 100 feet, for example, at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, and with lines of several blocks, such as at the Paramount and State theaters.

Traffic noise and loudspeakers with music blaring make it even more difficult to understand the announcements.

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Magpie at Stateside at SXSW 2024
Dialogue assist rating: 3/5

Stateside at the Paramount had the same closed caption devices that the Rollins Theater had and, so, were a literal pain in the neck to use, requiring me to hold them up just below my view of the screen. They also required shifting occular focus back and forth to see the movie screen and the CC device screen. Unlike the Rollins, the staff was dreadfully slow and required me to wait 5–10 minutes, preventing me from being able to choose my seat with others that I had waited with in line for the hour prior.

I liked Magpie a lot, but the ending was disappointing.

https://schedule.sxsw.com/2024/events/FS16716

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Narrative Shorts Program 2 at Rollins Theatre at SXSW 2024
Dialogue assist rating: 3/5

Thankfully, the Rollins Studio Theatre is equipped with closed caption devices for SXSW 2024. The staff was very helpful as soon as I asked when I entered and they followed me as I found my seat, then returned two minutes later with a device. It didn’t work, so they went back to find a techie to help and it didn’t work for the techie, either, but they had brought along a spare that worked fine. Unfortunately, there is no stand to hold up the CC device and you have to hold it up, with your arms, ideally just below your view of the screen. My arms got tired and my neck got sore but I got breaks for the few shorts in other languages that had open captions/subtitles. Unlike the CC devices at most movie theaters, this device didn’t have a hood, and I feared that it was distracting to my neighbors.

The collection of shorts was well curated. I particularly enjoyed Caller Number Nine! and Sound and Colour.

https://schedule.sxsw.com/2024/events/FS16702

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Sing Sing at ZACH Theatre at SXSW 2024
DIalogue clarity rating: 2/5

ZACH Theatre does not have closed-caption devices. They do have hearing-assist headsets which are *worse* than nothing, The theater is a box with horrid sound quality and lots of echo. The hearing-assist headsets are simply connected to a microphone in the horrid house. I was not able to hear many key words or entire sentences of this film.

A beautiful film, though. Colman Domingo is a master performer and the entire cast was *so* good! Most of them played themselves. Only one other screening, Saturday at 5:45 PM at AFS Cinema.

I highly recommend it for those who are not hearing impaired. (AFS Cinema does have closed captioning devices, but I can’t attest that they will be working for this film or even that they work well at all.)

https://schedule.sxsw.com/2024/films/2196982

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