Diff Partners with Sennheiser in the Year of Giving to Improve the Cinema Experience for audiences with hearing and visual impairments

Sennheiser endorsed by the National Media Council (NMC) brings its state of the art hearing and visual assistance platform CinemaConnect, to DIFF 365@VOX powered by du, the exciting new film platform at Mall of the Emirates and the Festival this December

Dubai, 7 June 2017: In support of the ‘The Year of Giving', as announced by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, and in line with the Dubai Disability Strategy 2020, DIFF and Sennheiser have teamed up with full endorsement from the National Media Council (NMC) to make all films enjoyable for everyone. 

For the first time in the UAE, Sennheiser will be offering its personal assistive hearing and translation tool, CinemaConnect to audiences at DIFF’s dedicated screening destination DIFF365 at VOX Cinemas, Mall of the Emirates and to the Dubai International Film Festival which will run from 6 – 13 December, 2017. 

Both will be equipped with Sennheiser’s state of the art hearing and visual assistance platform CinemaConnect, providing a free and seamless movie-going experience to suit the needs and preferences of all cinema enthusiasts. Compatible on both IOS and Android, the CinemaConnect application can be conveniently downloaded directly to your smartphone and offer hearing assistance, audio description and a portable display unit for closed captioning.  This can be directly connected to your assistive listening device or headphones. 

Abdulhamid Juma, DIFF’s Chairman said: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Sennheiser who with their incredible technology and great efforts are enhancing the big screen experience for those with hearing and visual impairments. Our mission is to bring the most exciting, original and compelling films from the Arab world and beyond to as many people as possible to discover different cultures, make observations about the world around us and provoke conversations that matter. We look forward to launching further initiatives during this very special ‘Year of Giving’ to bring the community together through the power of film.”

Mansour Al Mansouri, Director General of National Media Council, said: “This initiative is a natural development for us and ideal platform to highlight the National Media Council’s continuous efforts to enable those with hearing and visual impairment to enjoy the offerings at cinemas across the UAE and have access to the latest in international cinematic innovation. This is in line with one of our core beliefs in the importance of providing access to all mediums of content for all our residents across the UAE.” 

Mig Cardamone, Director of Sennheiser Middle East, said: “We are extremely proud to collaborate with the Dubai International Film Festival and receive a full endorsement from the National Media Council to showcase our intuitive assistive listening tool to audiences in the UAE through CinemaConnect. Sennheiser fully supports inclusion and recognises that hearing is an important prerequisite for the ability to participate in social and cultural life. With its uncomplicated, readily accessible and easy to understand technology, the CinemaConnect system enables all theater enthusiasts to discreetly enhance their cinematic experiences. It reinforces Sennheiser’s commitment to inclusion outlined in the Dubai Disability Strategy 2020 and our desire to deliver optimum audio experiences to a diverse, international community of cinema lovers.”