CODA, the comedy-drama which tells the story of the only hearing member of a deaf family, has been named Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards.
It’s the first film with a predominantly seaf cast to win Best Picture, star Troy Kotsur is the first deaf male actor to win an Oscar, while Siân Heder won Best Adapted Screenplay.
The win for the Apple TV+ movie marks the first time a streaming has been honoured in the category. Apple TV+ picked up the distribution rights for just $25 million following its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
“On behalf of everyone at Apple, we are so grateful to the Academy for the honours bestowed on CODA’ this evening,” said Zack Van Amburg, Apple’s head of Worldwide Video. “We join our teams all over the world in celebrating Siân, Troy, the producers, and the entire cast and crew for bringing such a powerful representation of the Deaf community to audiences, and breaking so many barriers in the process. It has been so rewarding to share this life-affirming, vibrant story, which reminds us of the power of film to bring the world together.”
CODA beat The Power of the Dog from Netflix and other entries from the traditional Hollywood studios including Dune, King Richard and Westside Story. The award was not without controversy as the US-French co-production received only three nominations overall – something that hasn’t happened since Grand Hotel took best picture in 1932.
It’s a boost for the AppleTV+ streaming service, which is often seen as an also ran, when compared to the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney.
