Matchbox Cine

Matchbox Cinesub is our professional subtitling arm. Our team has 14+ years’ experience subtitling for access, alongside our 12+ years’ experience in film exhibition. As exhibitors and event producers ourselves, we know what’s required technically, creatively and in terms of scheduling and budget.

We specialise in helping film festivals make their full programmes accessible and in working with film-makers and artists to ensure their work sincerely meets the demands of access provision while preserving the integrity of their work. We pride ourselves on producing the best, exhibition-quality descriptive subtitles no matter the initial context, ensuring our work can have a legacy in future use, in any number of contexts.

Since 2019, we’ve captioned over 2,000 films and short films. In 2020, Matchbox won a National Lottery Award in the Art/Culture/Film category, for efforts producing SDH/captions for D/deaf audiences. We were shortlisted at the 2022 Big Screen Awards in the Diversity & Inclusion Initiative category and were named one Big Issue’s Changemakers 2023.

For more information about our services, our rate card or even just to chat about subtitling, especially for access, email sean@matchboxcine.com.

Clients include: 4 Quarter Films, Abertoir Horror Festival, Access Cinema Ireland, Africa in Motion Film Festival, Alchemy Film & Arts, Anteroom, ArtReach, Aya Films, BECTU, Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, BFI, Birds’ Eye View, Caledonian Mumblecore, Cample Line, Cary Comes Home, Cat Strand, Cinebox, Cinema Rediscovered, Creativs Label, Ctrl Shift Face, Culture Collective, Curate-It, Disaster Plan, Document Film Festival, DoMeRight Productions, Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA), Edinburgh Artists’ Moving Image Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Edwin Morgan Trust, EFN Short Film Festival, Elevator Productions, Embassy Gallery, Enhancing Audio Description II, Encounters Film Festival, Epik Pictures, Exeter Phoenix, FACT (Liverpool), Ffilm Ifanc, Fig Films, Film City Futures, Film Distributors’ Association, Filmhouse (Edinburgh), Film Hub Scotland, Film Hub South East, Film Hub South West, Film London, Jeanie Finlay, Flatpack Festival, Forced Path Pictures, Forum Cinema Hexham, Freya Films, Fringe!, GAMIS, Glasgow Doors Open Day, Glasgow Film Festival, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow Short Film Festival, Gorilla Films, Halcyon Pictures, Havana Glasgow Film Festival, Hawkwood Productions, Hidden Pictures North, Hellmouth Pictures, HippFest, Hopscotch Films, Independent Cinema Office, Inverness Film Festival, Kato Pictures, A Kind Of Seeing, Larsa Films, Last Conker, Leeds International Film Festival, Leith Late, Little Stitch Productions, Live Cinema, Long Acre Arts, LUX, Macrobert Arts Centre, Manipulate Festival, Matchbox Cineclub’s Weird Weekend (and all other Matchbox screenings), Maz Murray, Messy Films, MsMono, MUBI, Night Sky Films, Northern Heart Films, Now Films, Open City Documentary Festival, PaperEpic Productions, Pollyanna, Queen’s Film Theatre (Belfast), Rachel Maclean, Reclaim the Frame, Rianne Pictures, Safar Film Festival, Samizdat Film Festival, Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival, Serious Facilities, Shetland Arts, Sixteen Films, Somesuch, Sovereign Films, Spike Island, Split Second Films, Square Eyes Film, Take One Action Film Festival, Tedium Entertainment, This Way Up, Tull Stories, University of Glasgow, Vertigo Films, Warwick Arts Centre, Watershed, We Are Parable, Whitechapel Gallery, Winnipeg Film Group and Women Over Fifty Film Festival.

Check out a YouTube playlist of trailers with our descriptive subtitles here.

If I had the budget, I'd get @MatchboxCine to caption everything. If you have films on your own platforms lacking captions, please get in touch with them. Really brilliant work, particularly given the complexity of all the accents on show! https://t.co/VGBXEwFXf2
— Ellen Reay (@ellenreay) May 7, 2021

Imagine spending lockdown without your favourite films… 📽️
Megan & Sean @MatchboxCine work tirelessly to ensure D/deaf communities could enjoy a range of films, and are the winners of the Culture, Arts & Film National Lottery Award 2020. #NLAwards @BFI https://t.co/GaFNt0HfA8 pic.twitter.com/mMBBQcDoIT
— National Lottery Good Causes (@LottoGoodCauses) November 5, 2020

That was pretty impressive captioning btw (at least to the extent I can tell, as a hearing person) – across languages, music tracks and "reverberating swirls"
— maria (@outwither) February 20, 2021

I think 'Eldrich clamour' must be some of the best audio descriptive subtitling I've ever seen #TWU2020 https://t.co/TiGvAKuCCH
— Morvern Cunningham (@morvc) December 1, 2020

TV & Radio presenter @edibow sent Sean and Megan a special message to congratulate them for their hard work, which has allowed more people to find comfort & joy through the world of film. 🍿 #NLAwards #ArmchairAccess

Watch here: https://t.co/VpkJmWNJZV
— National Lottery Good Causes (@LottoGoodCauses) November 11, 2020

I'm deaf, I have many deaf friends or those who can't follow video well without captions. I don't share inaccessible content. I was able to watch this half understanding it yesterday. Today with captions I understand 100% and I am delighted to share.
— Natalya Dell (@natalyadell) March 20, 2020

The captions are ready! Thanks @MatchboxCine for helping make our screening accessible for D/deaf audiences. #access #bfimusicals https://t.co/PnNv78XNQQ
— EAMIF (@eamifestival) January 26, 2020

I'm loving the brand new subs on Super November and the trailer too, thanks very much for all the attention to detail @MatchboxCine [throbbing synth music]https://t.co/N6moyg6opa pic.twitter.com/IbC0zcmGU1
— Douglas King (@doug14c) August 1, 2019

Now with added subtitles because this thing is global. Thank you @MatchboxCine https://t.co/pwg5X0crDO
— Pegg News (@simonpegg) March 20, 2020

Thanks as ever to @MatchboxCine for supremo professional support on this. Happy to talk to anyone who needs help about what a great job they've done for us @ICOtweets.
— Duncan Carson (@nowolvesplease) June 4, 2021

We're not 100% there yet, but a lot better than the baseline of 'none' at our previous events. Thanks so much to @MatchboxCine for working so hard on getting it done for us.
— Duncan Carson (@nowolvesplease) December 3, 2020

Thanks to the ever-excellent @MatchboxCine for captioning all of our short films at the conference – drones, eldritch clamours, and other spooky sound effects all described to perfection. pic.twitter.com/esVyEg6HN9
— This Way Up (@thiswayupcon) December 1, 2020

As @jemjemdesi's essay on the film asserts, That Cloud Never Left very lushly evokes continuities between cyclical labour and the circular motifs of a film reel in motion. @MatchboxCine's captions really capture how much of this evocation is achieved through sound. pic.twitter.com/lwPA6YsXpf
— Alchemy Film & Arts (@alchemyfilmarts) October 29, 2020

PDE graduate and Director/Co-founder of @filamentpd Craig Lynn talks about how the creative community can use design thinking to solve problems in crisis situations #CreativityMatters #DesignMatters #GSACreativeNetwork #UnisTogether
Captions by @MatchboxCine pic.twitter.com/cnyKYFo9jE
— The Glasgow School of Art (@GSofA) March 26, 2020

Our thanks, as always, to @MatchboxCine for providing captions to all #GSFF20online films we shared this week. 🙏
— Glasgow Short Film Festival (@GlasgowShort) March 22, 2020

The programme has been curated by @ellomunro. The trailer features captions by @MatchboxCine & work by @NeilHepburn1. To find a screening near you, visit https://t.co/j6AeXLSsux pic.twitter.com/29wy56DqKu
— Film Hub Scotland (@filmhubscotland) September 18, 2019