This film focuses on the only hearing member of a deaf family – and it has a noteworthy legacy

Published

3 years ago

August 13, 2021

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CODA first hit the headlines back in January when it won four major prizes at the Sundance Film Festival and was snapped up by Apple TV+ for a reported festival record of $25m (£18m).

Now the movie has been released on the streaming service and is likely to be one of their contenders come awards season, but it is the legacy it is leaving in terms of accessibility that is really noteworthy.

CODA stands for Child of Deaf Adults and the film centres on Ruby – the only hearing member of a deaf family – whose loyalties are torn when she discovers a passion for singing that could lead her away from the family home and business.

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The drama features deaf actors in many of the main roles, and much of its dialogue is shown through American Sign Language (ASL).

Writer and director Sian Heder told Sky News that in researching the project she quickly realised she was planning to do something that is rarely seen on screen.

“I wish I could say it was an easier ride,” Heder said.

“When I started writing the script, I went out and I was like, okay, I got to go find the deaf movies, and you’re looking for them and you’re going back to Children Of A Lesser God 30 years ago – which is Marlee Matlin’s Oscar-winning performance – but since then it’s just so few and far between, I could count them on one hand, the stories that portray deaf characters, especially in leading roles.

“[I was] looking for these portrayals and trying to find a pure ASL scene on screen where you’re watching characters relate in ASL and so it was interesting to sort of be heading into a bit of unknown territory where it was like: ‘Oh, there’s no roadmap for this, we’re going to discover this on our own.'”

Heder said that visiting the set of US show This Close – which was created by and stars deaf actors – helped her to understand what was needed to capture the story she’d written on film, and that she’s now hoping to set an example for other film-makers.

“Figuring out how many interpreters do we need to have on set and where do they need to be, and, you know, we have a vocal track – someone at the monitor who’s just speaking the lines into a track so the editor can cut those scenes.”

“Now I want to sort of share that information because I think people are daunted when they think about it – it’s like ‘how did you work with deaf actors?’ And I’m like, ‘actually it was really easy once we put the things in place to facilitate communication on set and make an accessible set.’

“But there isn’t really a way that it’s normally been done because it hasn’t been done very often.”

And it’s not just the on-screen action which is likely to have an impact on future film-making.

Apple have announced that CODA will be the first film ever to have burned-in subtitles, meaning that it will be accessible to anyone that wants to watch it.

Matlin plays the main character’s mother in CODA, and says she was captivated by the project as soon as she read the script.

“I didn’t want anyone else to take it away, I wanted this role, the opportunity, and I thought this was a story that was a long time in coming that we really needed to share,” Matlin told Sky News.

“It had to do with deaf culture and sign language and on so many levels it was a universal story as well, it was the perfect vehicle for me as an actor to be involved.”

Matlin hopes that just as she did decades ago with Children of a Lesser God, this film will encourage audiences to realise stories about the deaf community can be relevant to anyone.

“I hope that people will be able to see – the same way they saw Children Of A Lesser God – they’ll be taken aback by seeing a deaf character, now we’re talking about several deaf characters carrying the film, that people will see now finally realising, oh, OK, there are thousands of stories, universal stories that are within the deaf community that need to be told and to be shared.

“The beauty of our culture, the beauty of our language, the beauty of our stories, as I said, just to remind people that we’re people just like everybody else, and we have wonderful stories to tell.”

Her husband in the film is played by deaf stage actor Troy Kotsur.

He is also the real-life father of a CODA who he admits “saw the parallels” between what happens in the film and their own family experiences.

Kotsur told Sky News that it’s difficult for hearing people to understand what it’s like being a CODA – his on-screen daughter Ruby is teased at school by teenagers who have no idea what her life is like.

“She had a hard time trying to articulate what it’s like growing up in a deaf family, nobody understands that,” he explained.

“And it’s different than a typical experience where you have a different spoken language – here with deaf culture and sign language she had to sign at home because that’s the language that we used as a family and then leaving home, she had to adapt and didn’t sign very much.

“The movie depicts her journey navigating between two separate worlds, and this is an opportunity to really share that with the viewers about what it’s like being a CODA.”

For Emilia Jones, who plays Ruby, landing the role meant learning ASL, learning to fish and having singing lessons for the first time.

But despite it sounding like a daunting list of tasks, the actress explained to Sky News that she relished the opportunity, and particularly enjoyed learning ASL which she did for nine months before getting to set, then more intensively with ASL Masters Alexandria Wailes and Anne Tomasetti.

Jones said: “I wanted to be pushed and I wanted to be challenged so they pushed me very hard.

“I guess it’s like when you’re learning French, you go and live in France and you learn so much more, so the minute I landed, I started intense training and then I met Troy, Daniel [Durant who plays her brother Leo] and Marlee and we kind of started rehearsals and we worked closely together, I just learnt so much faster.”

For Heder, seeing her the words she wrote come alive on screen via ASL was a process she describes as “incredible” – starting when she and ASL Master Alexandria Wailes went through the script line by line, long before they got on set.

Heder explained: “She would read the line of dialogue and she would talk to me about my intention with the line and the emotional state of the character and then she would give me her sign choices and say, ‘what do you think about this?’

“I remember there was a line where the sign for dead was kind of a passive sign [so I asked] ‘is there something more active – she’s really angry in this moment – that could kind of be sharper?’ And so the sign for ‘killing me’ was like a much more dynamic sign in that moment.

“And it was just the coolest process to go through line by line and discover together this completely visual language.”

CODA is in cinemas and available to stream on Apple TV_.

Entertainment

Cassie breaks silence after video showed Diddy attacking her in hotel

Published

20 hours ago

May 23, 2024

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Cassie breaks silence after video showed Diddy attacking her in hotel

Cassie has broken her silence after video emerged of her ex-boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs attacking her in a hotel hallway.

The model and singer, 37, said she would “always be recovering from my past” and urged her followers on Instagram to “open your heart to believing victims the first time”.

It comes after footage obtained by CNN earlier this week showed her being punched and kicked in a hotel hallway in Los Angeles by rapper and record executive Combs.

The CCTV footage from 5 March 2016 shows Combs wearing only a white towel as he beats his then girlfriend and protege.

The R&B artist, who was in relationship with Combs between 2007 to 2018, said on Thursday: “Thank you for all of the love and support from my family, friends, strangers, and those I have yet to meet.

“The outpouring of love has created a place for my younger self to settle and feel safe now. But this is only the beginning.

“Domestic violence is THE issue. It broke me down to someone I never thought I would become. With a lot of hard work, I am better today, but I will always be recovering from my past.

“Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to take this matter seriously. My only ask is that EVERYONE open your heart to believing victims the first time, it takes a lot of heart to tell the truth out of a situation that you were powerless in.”

She added: “I offer my hand to those that are still living in fear. Reach out to your people, don’t cut them off, no one should carry this weight alone.

“This healing journey is never-ending, but this support means everything to me. Thank you. Love always, Cassie.”

Earlier this week, Combs – also known as P Diddy and Puff Daddy – said the CCTV footage was “inexcusable” and that he was “disgusted”.

The footage also shows the rapper shoving and dragging the singer – real name Casandra Ventura – and throwing a vase in her direction.

Read more: Accusations against P Diddy

It followed raids on the 54-year-old’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami by Homeland Security Investigations agents on 25 March, as he faced a series of public allegations of physical and sexual violence.

Raids on the rapper‘s properties were part of an ongoing sex-trafficking investigation by federal authorities in New York.

According to Sky’s US partner network NBC News, three women and a man were interviewed by federal officials in Manhattan in relation to the probe.

The investigation includes further claims of sexual assault, solicitation, and distribution of illegal drugs and firearms.

Combs has denied all the allegations.

The record executive has also recently faced several lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct and other wrongdoing.

In February, a music producer alleged Combs coerced him to solicit prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them.

Combs’s lawyer responded by saying: “We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies.”

Entertainment

General election: Why was Things Can Only Get Better playing during Rishi Sunak’s statement?

Published

23 hours ago

May 23, 2024

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General election: Why was Things Can Only Get Better playing during Rishi Sunak's statement?

Rishi Sunak was barely two minutes into his general election announcement yesterday when a song began blaring near No 10.

Younger or less politically astute viewers may have assumed the tune was part of the prime minister’s efforts to inspire the nation, as he didn’t miss a beat in his speech when the music came in.

Its purpose, however, was very different.

The song – Things Can Only Get Better by D:Ream – was the official anthem of Sir Tony Blair‘s landslide victory for Labour in 1997.

The party adopted the track which had already had mainstream success in the year after its release in 1993. It re-entered the charts during Sir Tony’s campaign, which featured the lead singer Peter Cunnah performing the song live at several rallies.

The physicist Brian Cox was the band’s original keyboard player.

Of course, it wasn’t the Labour Party blasting the D:Ream song this time around.

It was in fact prominent anti-Brexit campaigner Steve Bray who sacrificed his two amplifiers in the soaking rain to get his message across to the nation.

‘I didn’t do it for Labour’

“I thought about what would be the best trolling tune if he announced the election,” Mr Bray said.

“And of course, it had to be Things Can Only Get Better. Because everybody can relate to that and the 1997 election.

“I didn’t do it for Labour. I did it because it was the top trolling song for the Conservatives.”

Irrespective of Mr Bray’s distancing from Labour, the song is still synonymous with the party decades on from Sir Tony’s campaign.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer referenced the song himself in a conference speech last year, appearing to compare Labour’s previous reign with the current Conservative one when he said: “13 years of ‘things can only get better’ versus 13 years of ‘things have only got worse’.”

Wednesday wasn’t the first time a campaigner tried to interrupt one of the prime minister’s speeches – and it’s unlikely it will be the last.

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The speakers got soaked alongside Mr Sunak on Downing Street, “and they blew anyway,” said Mr Bray, who was draped in the blue and yellow colours of the EU.

But he vowed to buy more amplifiers and continue protesting during the election campaign ahead of 4 July.

Entertainment

Blur and Gogglebox to Olympic gold: The famous faces who could become MPs

Published

23 hours ago

May 23, 2024

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Blur and Gogglebox to Olympic gold: The famous faces who could become MPs

It’s not just your lifelong politicans who enter the fray when it comes to election time.

With the next general election now confirmed for July, there are already some faces in the mix you might recognise from other walks of life.

They wouldn’t be the first from the worlds of entertainment and sport to venture into politics – the late Oscar-winner Glenda Jackson won a seat for Labour in the 1992 election, as did TV personality Gyles Brandreth for the Conservatives.

And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was known as a comedian and actor before assuming his current role in 2019.

Here are some new candidates hoping to become MPs in July – along with one who bowed out after just eight days.

Dave Rowntree

Blur‘s drummer has been selected as a Labour candidate standing for the Conservative-held Mid Sussex seat, and is hoping to turn it red for the first time.

The constituency, covering Burgess Hill, East Grinstead, Haywards Heath and the Mid Sussex villages, is currently represented by Mims Davies.

Despite finding huge success as a musician with Blur, Rowntree is no stranger to politics. In May 2017, he was elected as a Labour county councillor serving the University ward in Norfolk, standing down in 2021.

He also stood as Labour’s parliamentary candidate for the Cities of London and Westminster in 2021, although was unsuccessful.

“The Tories have run out of ideas, and the Lib Dems have run out of steam,” Rowntree said when the news of his latest political bid was announced. “I’m running for parliament to provide the energy and vision the area so desperately needs.”

Blur played Wembley and returned to the top of the charts last year with their ninth studio album, The Ballad Of Darren.

James Cracknell

It was announced last year that Olympic rowing champion James Cracknell had been chosen as the Conservative candidate for Colchester for the next general election.

Best known for his time on the water, he won gold in the coxless fours at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and rowed alongside the likes of fellow Britons Sir Steve Redgrave and Sir Matthew Pinsent.

In 2010, he suffered a serious brain injury when he was knocked off his bike in America – an incident that changed his personality and gave him epilepsy. However, he made a remarkable return to rowing in 2019, winning the university boat race with Cambridge. He also appeared on Strictly Come Dancing that same year.

Cracknell has previously been mentioned as a potential Conservative candidate and stood to be an MEP for the party in southwest England in 2014.

Now, he hopes to take over from Will Quince, who is standing down as MP for Colchester, where the Conservatives have a majority of 9,000 over Labour.

“My experience as a sportsman has taught me to set my own targets and on the way proving people wrong to achieve them,” he writes on his website. “I desperately want to be in a position to encourage people to back themselves. There is more potential, resilience and drive within each of us than we realise. Let’s back ourselves.”

He is up against historian Pam Cox, who is standing for Labour.

Tom Gray

Musician and activist Tom Gray is a Mercury Prize winner, a co-founder of indie rock band Gomez who has also written music for TV and theatre.

He is also a founder of the Broken Record campaign, calling for better practices in streaming, and chair of the Ivors Academy, the professional association for songwriters and composers.

He has long been known for his activism for Labour, and in December was announced as the party candidate in the Brighton Pavilion constituency – pipping comedian and actor Eddie Izzard, who had also made a bid to stand for the party.

Labour is hoping to win Brighton Pavilion for the first time since 2005 after Green MP Caroline Lucas announced she would be standing down.

Josh Tapper

A former star of Gogglebox, Josh Tapper has been selected by Labour to run against Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden in Hertsmere, Hertfordshire, at the next general election.

Mr Dowden has held the seat since 2015 and has a sizeable majority of 21,000.

However, with recent by-elections seeing the Tories ousted in safe seats, Tapper is hopeful he can inspire change.

“I’m thrilled and honoured to have been selected as Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Hertsmere,” he said in a statement earlier this year. “Thank you so much to local members for your support – I won’t let you down. The work to unseat the deputy prime minister starts now!”

Tapper first appeared on hit Channel 4 show Gogglebox with his family when he was a teenager in 2014. He quit the show in 2017 after landing a job in the civil service.

In 2022, he also stood for selection in the North London seat of Chipping Barnet.

And he is not the first Gogglebox star to move into politics. Andy Michael, who died in 2021, was part of the show’s first episode in 2013, but left a year later when he announced he was running in the general election for UKIP. His family rejoined the show after he was unsuccessful in the Hastings and Rye constituency.

Alison Hume

You may well know some of Alison Hume’s work as a British television writer. Hume, pictured above with Tarka, a rescue dog and her campaign mascot, is the creator of the CBBC series The Sparticle Mystery and the 2005 BBC drama Rocket Man, starring Robson Green. She also wrote the 2008 TV film Summerhill, starring recent Eurovision contestant Olly Alexander, and the 2002 film Pure, starring Keira Knightley.

A trade unionist and disability campaigner, she is standing to be the next Labour & Co-operative Party MP for Scarborough and Whitby – hoping to replace Sir Robert Goodwill who won the seat from Labour in 2005 and is now standing down.

Hume is a “proud graduate” of the Jo Cox Leadership training programme, according to York Press, which says that current polling predicts she will become the constituency’s first Labour MP in almost 20 years.

“I never intended to go into politics, but after 20 years balancing bringing up three children, one with complex disabilities, with a successful career in the creative industries and a track record in disability campaigning, well, here I am,” she writes on her website.

“I will work 24/7 for a future which brings equality of opportunity, investment and a fairer, greener future to our coast and country.”

Monty Panesar (briefly)

Former England cricket star Monty Panesar announced in April that he was standing as a candidate for George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain in the west London constituency of Ealing Southall.

Panesar, who played for England between 2006 and 2013, was set to run against Labour incumbent Virendra Sharma, who has been the MP there for 18 years.

Writing in The Telegraph, Panesar even said he had aspirations to “one day become prime minister”.

However, he withdrew his application after eight days, saying he needed more time to find his “political home, one that aligns with my personal and political values”.

He added: “I wish The Workers Party all the best but look forward to taking some time to mature and find my political feet so I am well prepared to deliver my very best when I next run up to the political wicket.”