After CODA made history with the first Oscar best picture winner for a streaming service, Apple and its Apple TV+ platform are set to rerelease the watershed movie for Deaf representation in theaters from April 1.
After also winning the best supporting actor Oscar, for Troy Kotsur, and the best adapted screenplay trophy, for writer-director Siân Heder, CODA will return to theaters with open captions to be accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing. The limited theatrical run will fill over 600 U.S. movie theaters.
CODA — which centers on a blue-collar fishing family, the Rossis, who include a mother, father and son who are deaf, and a daughter who is hearing and acts as their interpreter to the rest of the world — had its world premiere at Sundance, where Apple picked up the movie for $25 million.
“As our industry recognizes CODA with its highest honor, we’re excited once again to bring this moving film to theaters so that audiences can share in the experience of watching it together. As with previous theatrical runs, all showings will have open captions, so that the film is accessible to the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities,” Erica Anderson, a film distribution exec for Apple Original Films and Apple TV+, said in a statement.
In CODA, Emilia Jones plays Ruby, the sole hearing member of her deaf family, who interprets for her parents (played by Marlee Matlin and Kotsur), while also working on the family’s struggling fishing boat with her father and older brother (Daniel Durant). When Ruby joins her high school’s choir club, she discovers a gift for singing.
Encouraged by her choirmaster (Eugenio Derbez), Ruby applies to a prestigious music school, only to be torn between the obligations of family and pursuing her own dreams. CODA is produced by Vendôme Pictures and Pathé, with Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi, Patrick Wachsberger and Jérôme Seydoux serving as producers. Ardavan Safaee and Sarah Borch-Jacobsen as executive producers.
Source: Hollywood
