Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner “CODA” wins Oscar Best Picture

by KM, Movie Lightbox

CODA, which stands for Child of Deaf Adults, won the top prize at the 2022 Academy Awards. The film directed by Sian Heder had its World Premiere at the virtual 2021 Sundance Film Festival where it won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize and three other prizes. It is the first Best Picture winner from Sundance and the first film in the history of the festival to win all top three prizes in the U.S. Dramatic section.

CODA is a film centered on a young girl who is the sole hearing member of a deaf family and must choose between her obligations and dreams. After the opening night raves and positive reviews, Apple Studios picked it up for $25 million, a record smashing deal and the highest acquisition sum for a film which premiered at Sundance. At the end of the festival, CODA sweeped four awards - U.S. Grand Jury prize (Sundance Film Festival’s top award), Best Director for Sian Heder in the U.S. Dramatic section, Audience Award and a Special Jury Ensemble Cast Award. The film was released through the streaming service in Apple TV+ back in August 2021. CODA is the first film distributed by a streaming service to win Best Picture at the Oscars. It picked up two other awards at the ceremony last Sunday night, Best Supporting Actor for Troy Kotsur and Best Adapted Screenplay for Sian Heder. Notable titles in the last decade which had their premieres at Sundance and got nominated for Best Picture include Beasts of the Southern Wild, Boyhood, Manchester by the Sea, Get Out and Promising Young Woman. CODA is the first film from Sundance to win Best Picture.

Jane Campion scored an Oscar victory in the Best Director category for The Power of the Dog. The film launched its first screenings in Competition at the 78th Venice Film Festival where she won the Silver Lion for Best Director. Dune, a film also nominated for Best Picture and had an Out of Competition slot at Venice made the biggest haul for the night with six Oscars - Editing, Cinematography, Original Score, Sound, Visual Effects and Production Design.

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car capped its awards season run by winning the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Before its numerous accolades from different critics organizations, Drive My Car got its first recognition at the 74th Cannes Film Festival where Hamaguchi won the prize for Best Screenplay. The film went on to be Japan’s official Oscar submission in the Best International Feature Film category and achieved a rare feat when it got nods in other categories including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay.

One of the nail-biters in the ceremony was in the Best Actress category. In the end, Jessica Chastain’s performance as Tammy Faye Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye prevailed. The film had its premiere at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival where Chastain also received a special recognition, the TIFF Tribute Actor Award, honoring actors for their distinguished works. Previous recipients who went on to win acting prizes at the Oscars include Joaquin Phoenix for Joker and Anthony Hopkins for The Father. TIFF People’s Choice Award winner Belfast also scooped the prize for Kenneth Branagh in the Best Original Screenplay category.

Here is the full list of winners at the 94th Academy Awards:

Best Picture: CODA (Sundance)

Best Director: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog (Venice)

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Toronto)

Best Actor: Will Smith, King Richard (Telluride)

Best Supporting Actress: Ariana DeBose, West Side Story

Best Supporting Actor: Troy Kotsur, CODA (Sundance)

Best Original Screenplay: Belfast (Telluride)

Best Adapted Screenplay: CODA (Sundance)

Best International Feature Film: Drive My Car, Japan (Cannes)

Best Animated Feature Film: Encanto

Best Documentary Feature Film: Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Sundance)

Best Cinematography: Dune (Venice)

Best Film Editing: Dune (Venice)

Best Costume Design: Cruella

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Toronto)

Best Production Design: Dune (Venice)

Best Original Score: Dune (Venice)

Best Original Song: No Time To Die from No Time To Die

Best Sound: Dune (Venice)

Best Visual Effects: Dune (Venice)

Best Live Action Short Film: The Long Goodbye

Best Animated Short Film: The Windshield Wiper (Cannes, Directors’ Fortnight)

Best Documentary Short Subject: The Queen of Basketball (Tribeca)