I Moved Abroad. I Didn't Want to Stop Going to the Movies.

Going to the cinema

Going to the cinema has been my favorite thing since I was a kid. I used to go all the time, sometimes several times a week. The dark room, the giant screen, a group of complete strangers sitting together for the same story. For two hours you step into a completely different world and live someone else's life. That feeling is something special.

Then I moved abroad

Then I moved abroad. New circles, new life, but the habit of going to the movies never changed.

Except I found myself enjoying it less and less. Although I had studied English for years, I could barely follow fast English dialogue in a cinema without subtitles. Gradually, every trip started with an argument in my own head. Part of me wanted to go. The other part already knew what would happen: sitting there for two hours, only understanding half, people around me laughing while I had no idea what was funny. That feeling got heavier each time. I went less and less.

The same film, a different experience

Yet when I watched the same films at home with subtitles in my language, I understood everything. Same film, completely different experience. If the only thing standing between me and the film was a layer of subtitles, why could I only have that at home?

So I started building

So I started building. No grand plan. I just wanted to see if it could work. I brought subtitles in my language onto my phone, and into the cinema. The subtitles run on the phone, the film stays on the big screen. After that, every time I went to the cinema I brought it with me, and every time I made it a little better.

Before The Odyssey came out, I finally launched it. That is CinemaCC.

Language should not be a barrier

I know I'm not the only one going through this. You moved to a new country. You love going to the movies. But language quietly made it harder. I don't want language to keep anyone from the movies they love. If you have ever given up on a film because you could not understand it, I would like to hear your story.