The Producers Guild Awards named CODA, a heartwarming indie drama about a deaf family, the year’s best film at their annual gala Saturday, throwing the race for next weekend’s Oscars wide open.
CODA, which cast deaf actors in several lead roles, follows teenage Ruby —who can hear—as she juggles pursuing her musical ambitions with her family’s dependence on her to communicate.
The movie, released by Apple TV+, is now best-placed to vie with Netflix’s Western The Power of the Dog, the presumed Academy Award frontrunner.
The Producers Guild Awards, taking place with Oscars voting now underway, have correctly predicted 11 of the past 14 winners of the best picture Academy Award.
Encanto won the PGA’s best animated film, strengthening its own Oscars bid before voting ends Tuesday.
Summer of Soul—musician Questlove’s first movie, about the huge “Black Woodstock” festival that took place in 1969 Harlem—racked up another best documentary win.
“In music, coda means the end of a movement. But our film is the beginning of one,” said CODA actress Marlee Matlin before the film took the night’s top prize.
“It’s a wonderful thing that audiences have embraced our movie and it’s wonderful to be making history,” she ended.