The new film starring Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez, British actress Emilia Jones, American Marlee Matlin and a great cast, gave and continues to give much to talk about. The film by director Sian Heder was screened some time ago at the Sundance Film Festival and won four awards, including the Grand Jury Prize.
Heder faced a great challenge when writing this story, but in a magazine interview she said she wants to make it clear that CODA, which stands for Child of Death Adults, is only about one specific young woman -Ruby Rossi - who is the daughter of deaf parents. She also said that there may be people who perceive the film differently or may have some misgivings because she is telling this story with no personal experience in the subject, but she stresses that the greater goal of all of this is to get more stories about disabilities and deafness come to light. "There are stories that deserve to be told," she says.
It is worth mentioning that Matlin and the other members of the family - Troy Kotsur and Daniel Durant - are deaf actors and they endorse the point of view the film wants to express and they were very excited to be part of the project. Jones admitted that she had never been exposed to deaf culture, but immersed herself in it and learned sign language for the role.
Another interesting aspect of the film that the director highlights is that she tried to illustrate and express the characters’ strong desire for autonomy in contrast to how the law and the society treat deaf people.
Although there is still no confirmed theatrical release date for Latin America, we will surely have news soon about this exciting and unmissable film.
Stay tuned!
