The notion of equivalence in translation has undergone change over the years resulting from the influence of various theories. During the 1950s and 1960s, the work of Vinay and Darbelnet, Nida, Catford and others paved the way for comparative studies of the translated and the source texts. This debate continued throughout the 1970s, spurred on by the interpretive theory of translation of Lederer, which underscores the translator’s encyclopedic knowledge and the integration of extra-linguistic data in context for the production of a text equivalent to the original. Today this debate takes place in the realm of audiovisual translation. This article looks at translation equivalence in the practice of cinematographic and audiovisual dubbing. By looking carefully at two successful productions, Gone with the Wind by David Zelsnick (produced for cinema) and All Saints, a television series directed by the Australian Julian Pringle, it shows that in cinematographic and audiovisual dubbing, in contrast to written translation, the achievement of a dubbed version equivalent to the original version depends on a complex entity consisting of picture and sound. The translation depends on specific constraints, in that dubbing requires equivalence at two levels – sound and meaning – while complying with phonetic, syntaxic and artistic synchronization.