Lagatar24 Desk
Mumbai, March 28: In every regard, CODA’s huge win at the 94th Academy Awards is historic. The film took home three major honours on the night: Best Film, Best Supporting Actor for Troy Kotsur (who is deaf), and Best Adapted Screenplay. Sian Heder wrote and directed the film, which is an English version of the French film La Famille Belier from 2014. The film follows Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones), a deaf woman who strives to find a balance between her personal life and her family’s fishing business. The Power Of The Dog, which received only one of its 12 nominations – Best Director for Jane Campion – was beaten by CODA.
The acting prizes were given to people who had never won before. Will Smith won Best Actor for King Richard, delivering an emotional speech in which he apologised for punching presenter Chris Rock earlier in the programme for making a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. Jessica Chastain won Best Actress for The Eyes Of Tammy Faye, and she was presented with her Oscar by Anthony Hopkins, who did not attend last year’s ceremony to accept his Best Actor Oscar but showed up this year to present Jessica with her prize.
After his CODA co-star Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur became the second deaf actor to receive an Academy Award. Troy Kotsur congratulated his family and the CODA team after receiving the prize.
Ariana DeBose received Best Supporting Actress for her role as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s version of West Side Story; Rita Moreno had won the Oscar for playing Anita in the original film 60 years before.
Dune took home six of the ten prizes for which it was nominated. Drive My Car from Japan won Best International Feature, Encanto took Best Animated Feature, while Writing With Fire from India was beaten out for Best Documentary Feature by Summer Of Soul.
