The film, Big Stone Gap, was released on October 9, 2015 with no English subtitles at any local Regal Cinemas. Yeah, it was disappointing thing to see. Before *and* after the release, I contacted Adriana Trigiani via her website (www.adrianatrigiani.com) and Picturehouse Entertainment (www.picturehouse.com) as well as tweeting them directly asking about the English subtitles for Deaf people. None of them acknowledged nor responded at all.
There are plenty of Deaf people living in Big Stone Gap, Norton, Wise, Pound, Appalachia, Coeburn and St. Paul. Why do you think there is still a club based in Norton called "Southwest Virginia Club of the Deaf" serving Wise County and its surrounding counties not only in Virginia but in Kentucky, West Virginia & Tennessee? Why do you think that Virginia chose Norton to be the statewide text relay center which ran for more than 30 years before closing last August for good? With less than 45,000 residents in the county & Norton, there is no way in Hell that Adriana would not know that there are Deaf people in that damned location!
In fact, the only person who responded was Randy Smith, Jr of Knoxville, Tenn. Randy is the Senior Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer & Counsel of Regal Entertainment Group. I contacted him after failing to hear anything from anyone associated with Big Stone Gap including Adriana. Randy was great as he attempted to locate and find the location that may provide the subtitles for me who was trying to take my Mom to see the film on her birthday weekend. Randy was quick with his email response with bad news, he explained that it was the company, Picturehouse Entertainment that chose not to make English subtitles on this particular film for distributions like Regal Cinemas to pick up.
I tried to contact Picturehouse Entertainment on its website through its so-called "Contact Us" section. As expected, I never heard from them. Not even from Adriana Trigiani herself. It is now October 18, 2015. I felt that I was a sucker for buying Adriana's novels. Mom and I do not watch any film in a major motion theater without subtitles or captions. Needless to say, we won't go and watch Adriana's worthless film on a big screen. Hell, I'll not buy her worthless DVD as well. I'll just watch it on the internet for free. Because they failed Deaf people like my late father and Mom who has the connections to Big Stone Gap, they absolutely do not deserve a cent from me on this to support her worthless novels & film from now on.
Cheers,
R-
