CODA is a 2021 drama film that follows a hearing teenage girl who is a child of deaf adults (CODA for short). The film is written and directed by Sian Heder, who previously wrote and directed Tallulah (2016), as well as a number of episodes of Orange is the New Black.
Gifted with a voice that her parents can’t hear, seventeen-year-old Ruby is the sole hearing member of a deaf family. Her life revolves around acting as interpreter for her parents and working on the family’s struggling fishing boat every day before school with her father and older brother. But when Ruby joins her high school’s choir club, she discovers a gift for singing and finds herself drawn to her duet partner Miles. Encouraged by her enthusiastic, tough-love choirmaster to apply to a prestigious music school, Ruby finds herself torn between the obligations she feels to her family and the pursuit of her own dreams.
The cast includes Emilia Jones, Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur, Daniel Durant, Eugenio Derbez, and Ferdia Walsh-Peelo.
The film, which is an English-language remake of the 2014 French-language film La Famille Bélier, was filmed on location in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
CODA had its world premiere on January 28th, 2021 at the Sundance Film Festival. Apple acquired distribution rights for a festival-record $25 million.
CODA will hit select theaters and through the Apple TV+ streaming service August 13th. Watch the official trailer below.