Sian Heder’s portrait of a deaf family with a hearing child “CODA” won the top awards at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, including the grand jury prize,.
Sian Heder’s portrait of a deaf family with a hearing child “CODA” won the top awards at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, including the grand jury prize,.
Her film, a breakout of the festival, sold to Apple TV+ for a reported $25 million. Heder had her kids and husband join her for the directing honor.
Questlove, who made his directing debut with Summer of Soul (.or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) at the largely forgotten 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, was caught a little more off guard and got word his first award, the audience prize, from the passenger seat of a car.
“Wait a minute, this is too soon,” he said. “I didn’t even know this was a contest, yo.”
His film also won the grand jury prize.
Messenger
LOS ANGELES, Feb 3, (AP): Questlove accepted his documentary grand jury prize and audience award from his car on the way to work and “CODA” director Sian Heder accepted her top awards in American Sign Language from her own home with her kids by her side and her husband filming. The 2021 Sundance Film Festival Awards were unlike any before and had filmmakers calling in from around the world Tuesday night to cap off the festival’s first virtual edition. “CODA,” Heder’s film about the hearing child of deaf adults who is trying to carve out her own life apart from her family, won the top awards of the evening including the grand jury prize, the directing award, the audience award and a special ensemble prize. “I’m going to cry,” Heder said.