Siân Heder’s debut feature CODA has established itself as a firm frontrunner for the top prize at next week’s Oscars after picking up an important precursor award.
The Apple TV Plus original won the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures at last night’s PGA Awards, the first time a movie made for streaming has been the winner in the category.
Historically, the film that wins this award has a very good chance of going on to win Best Picture, with the likes of The Shape of Water, Green Book, and Nomadland all having won both awards in recent years.
However, there are exceptions – for example, in 2016, La La Land won at the PGAs before it was memorably pipped by Moonlight at the Oscars, while 2019 saw 1917 win the PGA Award before Parasite emerged as Best Picture winner.
It’s therefore still very possible that The Power of the Dog, Belfast, or one of the other Best Picture nominees could win the main award, although this undoubtedly puts CODA in a very good position.
Speaking about the award, Philippe Rousselet described the win as “incredible.”
“It really means so much coming from our peers,” he said. “I think we will all agree a good movie always starts with a good story … and in a world where we see the lack [of humanity] every day, I’ll take this award as a sign that there is still hope.”
CODA tells the story of Ruby Rossi, a child of Deaf adults who attempts to pursue her passion as a singer while continuing to support her family in their fishing business and as a translator.
The other big winners on the night included Summer of Soul (… or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) which won the documentary prize, and Disney’s Encanto which took home the award for animated feature.
Meanwhile, the TV Awards saw Succession named as the winner for Episodic Television – Drama, while Mare of Easttown won for Limited Series and Ted Lasso took the prize for Episodic Television – Comedy.
CODA is available to stream on Apple TV Plus. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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