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Deaf film fans attend Bridget Jones's Baby screening, cinema can't find the subtitled version

David Deacon was left furious over the cinema chain's lack of communication with the assembled audience

Jacob Stolworthy
Saturday 24 September 2016 10:37 BST
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Deaf cinemagoers were left reeling after paying money to attend a screening of hit sequel Bridget Jones's Baby they discovered had no subtitles.

Adding to the confusion was the fact that, when after 25 minutes an audience member went to complain, they were told a subtitled version couldn't be located.

24-year-old David Deacon from Wallington was just one of 15 who had paid to see the film at Croydon's Vue cinema. He told the Standard: “I explained the situation and, ironically, it would seem that it fell on deaf ears and the only solution the manager would give is to give out complimentary tickets.

“I was also shocked to learn that the manager then mentioned that they could not find a subtitled version of the film and did not inform me or the others whilst we were waiting for the subtitles to show in the auditorium, whilst the film was still running.”

Deacon, who was apologetically given a £30 Vue gift card, later received an email from a manager at the cinema chain, reading: “Upon investigation, it appears that, due to an unfortunate human error, the wrong file was uploaded onto the projector of your screen in place of the subtitled version of Bridget Jones’s Baby. Uploading a 4K file onto a projector is a process that requires several hours to complete, therefore it was impossible for the management team to rectify this error on time, and for this, I would like to offer my most sincere apologies.”

A spokeswoman for Vue said: “We regret any inconvenience caused to Mr Deacon. We would encourage Mr Deacon to contact us at Vue Croydon to receive complimentary tickets to a film of his choice.”

Bridget Jones's Baby see the return of Renée Zellweger and Colin Firth as well as the addition of Patrick Dempsey. Following its release in the UK, it became the biggest-selling September release of all time.

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