ABSTRACT
This chapter covers the theoretical framework underlying accessible filmmaking (AFM), which is based on a new and wider notion of audiovisual translation and a translation- and accessibility-oriented notion of film studies. The traditional narrow scope of media accessibility is expanded here to include audiovisual translation modalities such as subtitling and dubbing and to cover both access to content and access to creation. The chapter looks at the invisibility of translation and accessibility within film studies and at the few scholars who have proved to be an exception. This leads to the presentation of the global version and a discussion of how filmmakers can take an interest in (and keep certain degree of control over) the foreign and accessible version of their films and how film scholars can acknowledge the distinction between original and foreign/accessible versions and build it into their analyses. The chapter concludes with an account of the progress made so far in the area of AFM with regards to training, research and professional practice.
