ISU Bengal Theatre will provide captioned movies every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday

Captioned movies will take place every Tuesday and Thursday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 4:30 p.m.

Captioned movies already took place on Sunday at 4:30 p.m., but that wasn’t enough because it only offered one movie at one time for the deaf community to take part in. By adding more captioned movies, the hearing impaired are given a greater opportunity to take part in a wider variety of movies.

“By expanding the closed-captioning option to Tuesday and Thursday, hearing impaired individuals will now have access to the full range of movie options available each week,” Jason Sperry, assistant director of student unions and involvement, said.

The Bengal Theatre, which is student-funded and operated, hopes to allow all ISU students and the community to enjoy movies.

“The expanded closed-captioning allows us to fulfill our mission by providing to all our student body and community friends the opportunity to participate,” Sperry said.

The ASL club, which was only started this year, aims to help facilitate the learning of ASL, as well as connecting the hearing and deaf communities in Pocatello.  They hold silent lunches on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and hold meetings on the first Tuesday of the month. Their first accomplished task was bringing closed-captioned movies to the Bengal Theatre.

The club hopes that these closed-captioned movies will promote using sign language outside of class for ASL students.

“We are thrilled to provide the closed captioning option,” Sperry said. “We are excited to have the deaf community participate with us on a regular basis.”

For more information about ASL club, contact Cassie Ashdown at ashdcass@isu.edu. For more information about the Bengal Theatre, contact Sperry atsperjaso@isu.edu.