www.diverseabilitymagazine.com DIVERSEability Magazine 45
of firsts over the past year. CODA marks the irst time in the Academy Awards' 96-year-old history that a film with a predominately deaf- led cast was nominated for Best Picture as well as its first win. It's also the first film from a streaming service to win for Best Picture at the Oscars. The dedication to casting deaf actors in CODA also led to another Oscar first with Troy Kotsurs win for Best Supporting Actor. Kotsur, who plays Ruby's dad, Frank Rossi, in the film, is the first deaf man to win an Oscar. He is also the first deaf person to be nominated for the Supporting Actor category and only the second to be nominated for an Academy Award. Coincidentally, the first deaf person to ever be nominated for and win an Oscar was Kotsur's co-star, Marlee Matlin, in 1986. Kotsur is also the first deaf male actor to receive an Oscar, a BAFTA Award, a SAG Award, a Film Independent Spirit Award and a Critics Choice Award in the Supporting Actor category. I can still remember watching Marlee win her Oscar on television and telling friends I was going to get nominated one day and them being skeptical, Kotsur stated after his nom- ination, I would like to thank everyone for this huge honor. I am stunned. Along with its casting choices, the film was also heavily inclusive through its use of and education towards American Sign Language (ASL). One of the ways Heder did this was by hiring individuals fluent in ASL to work on the film's crew. Besides a group of rotating ASL interpreters who facilitated communica- tion between those who used ASL and those who didnt, Heder was accompanied by two directors who knew how to sign. According to Matlin, many of the film's cast and crew, including Emilia Jones, took the time to learn ASL to foster a sense of inclusion on set. In addition to making Oscars history, the ilm has been awarded and nominated for an array of other prestigious awards such as the Gotham Awards, the PGA Awards, the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards and the Critics Choice Movie Awards. At the Sundance Film Festival, the Apple streaming service pro- duction took home an unprecedented four awards, making it the first top Sundance win- ner to achieve an Oscar for Best Picture. This movie has proven to be a huge success, shown through the widely positive response of its audiences. This film's attention to detail and determination to focus on inclusion may be one of the first of its kind, but its presence will ensure that it wont be the last.
Sources: Deadline, IMDb, Los Angeles Times, Wikipe- dia, The Hollywood Reporter, Apple.com, The Academy Awards
EMMA MCINTYRE/GETTY IMAGES FOR WARNERMEDIA
(L-R) Emilia Jones, Daniel Durant, Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur and Eugenio Derbez pose with their awards for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture during the 28th SAG Awards.
I just wanted to say this is dedicated to the deaf community, the CODA community and the disabled community. This is our moment!
- Troy Kotsur, Academy Award acceptance speech
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