By: Yzora Lopez
On Sunday night of the 94th Annual Oscar Awards Ceremony, the Apple TV+ drama film received multiple awards that made history for the cast and the Oscars as a whole.
The academy couldn’t seem to get enough of this heartwarming coming-of-age drama about a 17-year old Ruby, the only member in a family of the deaf, that has aspirations of attending Berklee College of Music.
The title of the film holds special significance to the story as ‘CODA’ stands for children of deaf adults and parents, but also is referred to as the section that concludes a section of music.
The film stars a cast of Eugenio Derbez, Troy Kotsur, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Daniel Durant, and Marlee Matlin.
The first mark of history that the film made was receiving the award for Best Picture. The film became the first film with a predominantly deaf cast, to be nominated and walk away with one of the most important awards of the night.
While accepting the award, producer Philippe Rousselet said, “Thank you to the academy for letting our CODA make history tonight. He continued to say, “And congratulations to all our fellow nominees. Your movies were all so incredible. We’re so honored to be here.”
The second producer of the film, Patrick Wachsberger, also expressed his feelings on the award by saying, “I really want to thank the academy for recognizing a movie of love and family in this difficult time that we need today, and this is CODA.”
In addition to Best Picture, CODA was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Troy Kotsur and Best Adapted Screenplay for screenwriter and director of the film.
Actor Troy Kotsure, who is one of the actual deaf cast members in the film, became the first deaf actor to ever win an oscar for best supporting actor at the Oscars.
Co-star Marlee Matlin was the first deaf actor to ever win an Oscar in history back in 1987 when she won best actress for her performance in “Children of a Lesser God.”
While accepting his award, Kotsur said, “This is amazing to be here on this journey. I can’t believe I’m here.” The actor continued to say, “I really want to thank all of the deaf theater stages where I was able to develop my craft as an actor.”
Kotsur moved on to talk about his father, saying, “My dad he was the best signer in our family but he was in a car accident and he became paralyzed from the neck down and he was no longer able to sign…you are my hero.”
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