Paper short abstract:

Should Sign Language (SL) films be subtitled? Using three examples (iconic and embodied storytelling in SL, 'gestaltning' of a Eurovision song, and a SL film without subtitles), I re-examine the role of subtitles in a Sign Language context and ask us to consider what is getting lost in translation?

Paper long abstract:

Should Sign Language be subtitled and if so, what do we need to include, add, or remove in the textual version of a visual, embodied and distinct language? Using examples of iconic signing and embodied storytelling in Swedish Sign Language, a Sign Language 'gestaltning' of a Eurovision song, and a film in Ukrainian Sign Language without subtitles I ask what subtitles can and can't do for us as visual anthropologists and filmmakers. Drawing on a long tradition in ethnographic filmmaking, I re-examine the role of subtitles in a Deaf Sign Language context and end by problematising auto-generated (AI-created) captioning that has become a substitute for crafted subtitles, and ask us to consider what is, to use a classic phrase, getting lost in translation?