At long last, cinema culture is finding a level ground between those who are hearing impaired and those who are not, and it's happening right here in State College.

For a little over a month, Premiere Theaters, 125 Premiere Drive, has been offering movies with subtitles for the hearing impaired during its Saturday matinee hours, which run from noon to 6 p.m.

Premiere Theaters manager Anthony Smith said the theater had been presenting the shows on Thursdays, but recently decided to make the switch to a more popular day for moviegoers.

"The hearing impaired community expressed their opinion that Thursday was a difficult day to have the screenings, especially for kids because of school," Smith said. "We decided to move the screenings to Saturday and since then we've been getting a good response."

Smith said that the screenings take place in the main movie theater at the cinema and that he usually chooses the more family friendly films that have been recently released. He added that if there is particularly good audience feedback from a specific film, he might choose to run that film two weeks in a row.

Penn State Sign Language Club President Kate Shemeley said that showing movies with subtitles are a very good move on the part of the theater.

"The hearing impaired deserve to have the opportunity to go see movies that are playing in the theater just like everyone else does, so it's great that they are having these screenings," Shemeley said. "Unlike people in the hearing community, those who are deaf usually have to wait to see movies when they come out on video, so it's good to know that they now have the chance to see these movies in the theater."

Shemeley said that the Sign Language Club -- an organization that studies both sign language as well as deaf culture in general -- may try to organize a trip to one of the screenings during the coming weeks.

Premiere Theaters assistant manager Bob Ricker said that he routinely sees local hearing impaired groups coming in for the shows.

"There are a few groups of hearing-disabled people who've come in lately and just expressed absolute gratitude for the fact that we've taken time from our movie schedule to cater specifically to them," Ricker said. "Usually these people are looking for activities to do together and this is a good opportunity for that to happen."

Ricker added that about 70 percent of the crowds that have been attending the screenings are group-based, ranging from about 12 to 15 people per group.

He said that it is important not to forget about another part of the community.

"This is a group of people who often get missed and who don't have a lot of things made especially for them and it's great that we're able to provide this for them," Ricker said.

Smith also relishes the chance to be able to provide a service that is relatively new to a delighted group of the public.

"It's great to have people come in who really enjoy seeing movies and who haven't been able to see them in awhile," Smith said. "That's what we're here for -- to give everyone an equal opportunity."