Deaf tale CODA breaks records as Best Picture
THE movie CODA, about a girl who is the only hearing member of a deaf family, became the first streaming-only film to win Best Picture at an inspiring Oscars ceremony.
Almost the entire audience stood and applauded in sign language when CODA – shown on Apple TV+ exclusively – was announced as the main prize-winner.
Its star Troy Kotsur, 53, also became the first deaf man to win an Academy Award for acting.
Rising star Emilia Jones, 20, who plays Kotsur’s on-screen daughter Ruby, is the real-life daughter of former “Walking in the Air” Welsh choirboy Aled Jones.
The film’s title is a reference to the acronym for “child of deaf adults” and is an English-language remake of the 2014 French film La Famille Belier.
Kotsur bagged Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Frank Rossi, the dad of Ruby, who struggles to support her family’s fishing business, while the script got Best Adapted Screenplay.
Community
On stage, Kotsur signed: “This is dedicated to the deaf community, the CODA community and the disabled community. This is our moment.” Netflix-hosted drama The Power of the Dog was among the nominees that lost out to CODA for Best Picture – but its writer-director Jane Campion, 67, had the honour of becoming only the third woman to win Best Director in 94 years of the awards. The New Zealander said afterwards: “I’m very proud to have won tonight for my film, for my crew and for my cast, but also just to be another woman who is going to be followed by a fourth, a fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth. “I’m very excited that this is moving fast now. Equality matters.” Jessica Chastain, 45, took home Best Actress for playing TV evangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, while Best Supporting Actress went to Ariana DeBose, 31, for playing spirited Anita, who sings America in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake. After his Chris Rock fracas, Will Smith got Best Actor for playing Serena and Venus Williams’ dad in drama King Richard.
The night’s most awards went to science-fiction epic Dune which earned six accolades, including Cinematography.
After picking up Best Original Screenplay for Belfast, Sir Kenneth Branagh praised 11-year-old Jude Hill, who plays him as a child in the drama.
The 61-year-old said: “He’s a very special young fella. His parents are here tonight ... they’ ve done an amazing job…
“They encourage their kids to be open, funny, ask questions.”
Billie Eilish, 20, who won Best Original Song for No Time To Die from the film of the same name with brother Finneas O’Connell, 24, said she had “wanted to pay [her] respects to every aspect of Bond” despite fearing she would fail as she is “American”.
Meanwhile Amir “Questlove” Thompson won Best Documentary Feature for Summer of Soul and Ryusuke Hamaguchi grabbed Best International Film for
Drive My Car.