A lively debate has been carrying on for some time now between those in favour of subtitling and those who prefer dubbing.

Generally speaking, most scholars and cinema experts are in favour of subtitling as it maintains the audio-visual integrity of the original film. Conversely however, most distributors, cinema proprietors and marketing executives favour dubbing in view of the film’s subsequent increased market worth and distribution potential.”

As Bertolucci has clearly highlighted, dubbing breaches the rights of three separate parties: the director’s right to have his personal choices respected, the right of the viewer to be able to assess the author’s subjectivity via a definitive final version of his work and the right of the film to remain true to itself.

It is better for a viewer to relate less directly to a film in its original state rather than more directly to one which has been tampered with eg dubbed. It is therefore more beneficial to a viewer to have to read subtitles as they can be assured that they are watching a film as the director originally intended.

In numerous countries for both historic and cultural reasons the custom of subtitling films has been opposed in favour of indiscriminate dubbing.

From a film festival point of view however, films must be subtitled. Dubbed versions are simply not acceptable at this cinematic level as they are, in many respects, very different from the original. Although simultaneous translation does permit the viewer to still follow the film visually it rarely offers high-quality results with the narrator’s voice often being superimposed over the dialogue and causing a time delay.

Sub-ti has set up a system that allows any film festival to present films with clear, legible and high-quality subtitles, thanks to a committed team of professionals and to its advanced technology.