




photos: @codamovie on Instagram
CODA stars Marlee Matlin, Troy Kusters, and TerpTheatre alumnus Daniel Durant (Police Deaf Near Far), along with Emilia Jones as Ruby in the title CODA role.
Filmed before the COVID pandemic, CODA* tells the story of a Deaf family with one hearing Coda member. The film features a stellar Deaf cast, while also highlighting the Coda experience … something that is entirely new to many hearing people. The film was scheduled to be at Sundance this year, which has been re-imagined as an online event. Tickets to the January 28th premier online sold out quickly — as did a second showing that was added to accomodate the increasing demand to see the film.
After an intense bidding war, Apple paid $25 million for the worldwide distributing rights to CODA. The cast and director of the film discussed the avalanche of praise for their work with The Wrap:
The Sundance Festival closed with an awards ceremony, where CODA won four of the six available honors in the US Dramatic competition:
Grand Jury Prize: CODA
Audience Award: CODA
Directing: Siân Heder for CODA
Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble: The cast of “CODA”
(Emilia Jones, Eugenio Derbez, Troy Kotsur, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Daniel Durant, and Marlee Matlin)
Cast members and director Siân Heder celebrated on social media as they watched the awards ceremony, which was held online (as was the entire Sundance festival).
*When in all caps, CODA typically refers to an organization called ‘Children Of Deaf Adults‘. When referring to an individual, the term is written as ‘Coda’. For some, the film’s use of CODA for the title may seem inconsistent with this distinction.
Enjoy some of the early reviews of CODA below, and the Twitter feed from the film’s director.

https://variety.com/2021/film/news/sundance-2021-award-winners-1234898775/
“I hope that this means that more stories that center deaf characters”
Siân Heder
Director, CODA
“You can literally feel the energy, the range, and the power.”
Mashable | India

https://variety.com/2021/film/markets-festivals/coda-sundance-film-festival-1234895708/
“Rapturous Premiere”
Variety
“A radiant
The Hollywood Reporter
heartwarmer!”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/coda-film-review-sundance-2021

https://variety.com/2021/film/reviews/coda-review-emilia-jones-troy-kotsur-marlee-matlin-1234894424/
“I had the most out-of-body movie-viewing experience I’ve had in the year since movie theaters closed down.”
Variety
“It helps to have such an appealing cast…”
Deadline

https://deadline.com/2021/01/coda-film-review-marlee-matlin-emilia-jones-sian-heder-sundance-1234682823/

Danny McDougall, PhD, CSC — “Dr. Danny” — owns and manages TerpTheatre. Since 1986, he has interpreted in hundreds of plays, musicals and other performances on stage – most in the shadowed style. He teaches and lectures on the theory and practice of theatre interpreting. Danny is the chair of Sign Language Studies at Madonna University, and holds a PhD in Translation and Interpretation from Heriot-Watt University – where his dissertation explored the relationship between space and meaning during interpreted theatre performances.