Online Sundance Opens to Virtual Ovation for Deaf Drama

Critics praised Emilia Jones' "breakout" performance in Sundance Film Festival opener "CODA". AFP
Critics praised Emilia Jones' "breakout" performance in Sundance Film Festival opener "CODA". AFP
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Online Sundance Opens to Virtual Ovation for Deaf Drama

Critics praised Emilia Jones' "breakout" performance in Sundance Film Festival opener "CODA". AFP
Critics praised Emilia Jones' "breakout" performance in Sundance Film Festival opener "CODA". AFP

The Sundance Film Festival, forced online this year by the pandemic, quietly opened to a virtual "standing ovation" for deaf family drama "CODA" Thursday.

Taking its title from an acronym for child of deaf adult, "CODA" follows high-school teen Ruby (Emilia Jones) as she juggles her musical ambitions with her family's dependence on her to communicate with the "hearing" world.

The first in-competition film to stream for remote attendees of the prestigious indie festival, it drew immediate rave reviews, with Variety calling it "tender, lively, funny, and beautifully stirring," and Deadline praising a "breakout performance" from Jones ("Locke & Key.")

"I would say it's the equivalent of a standing ovation," Sundance programming director Kim Yutani told the cast as she hosted an online Q&A immediately after its streaming premiere ended.

The unusual debut is a world away from the flashy, red-carpet screenings and after-parties Sundance typically holds each January high in the Utah mountains, where Hollywood migrates to watch and cut deals for the coming year's hottest indie titles.

Sundance organizers have this year invited industry types to "trade in your snow boots for slippers," and created networking events for filmmakers to mingle with audiences in "avatar" based chat rooms and virtual-reality cinemas.

"We had a choice to make -- we could cancel or move the festival," said director Tabitha Jackson, opening the festival Thursday.

"Or we could take a risk and imagine a way to recreate the energy of the full festival experience digitally," she added.

"CODA" was based on French 2014 comedy "La Famille Belier," transplanted to the US fishing town of Gloucester by director and Massachusetts native Sian Heder ("Orange is the New Black.")

Both Heder and Jones learned sign language for the film, which features several prominent deaf actors in lead roles including Oscar-winner Marlee Matlin ("Children of a Lesser God.")

"This film has changed my life forever," said Jones, who told the virtual audience she was continuing to learn the "beautiful" language.

The movie employed real CODAs on set as translators where needed, and Heder said she hopes the film will inspire Hollywood to make more disability-focused films.

"We are hungry to hear new stories that we haven't heard... this is a world of new stories, in the disability world," she said.

Thursday also saw the premiere of "Summer of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)," musician Questlove's first movie about the huge "Black Woodstock" festival that took place in 1969 Harlem.

The documentary brings to light never-before-seen footage of the star-studded concert which was attended by 300,000 people and featured Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone and Mahalia Jackson, but has largely been lost to history until now.

Questlove -- real name Ahmir Thompson -- deftly mixes euphoric concert scenes with historical background on "a pivotal year for Black and brown people all over the country" and a range of high-profile interviews.

Music "was the therapy for the stress and pressure of being black in America," recalls Al Sharpton, who reminisces in the film alongside Jesse Jackson and Mavis Staples. "We didn't know anything about therapists, we knew Mahalia Jackson."

Some 72 feature films will screen at the festival co-founded by Robert Redford, which runs through to February 3.



New Spielberg, Nolan Films Teased at CinemaCon

US actress Scarlett Johansson presents the film 'Jurassic World Rebirth' onstage during CinemaCon. VALERIE MACON / AFP
US actress Scarlett Johansson presents the film 'Jurassic World Rebirth' onstage during CinemaCon. VALERIE MACON / AFP
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New Spielberg, Nolan Films Teased at CinemaCon

US actress Scarlett Johansson presents the film 'Jurassic World Rebirth' onstage during CinemaCon. VALERIE MACON / AFP
US actress Scarlett Johansson presents the film 'Jurassic World Rebirth' onstage during CinemaCon. VALERIE MACON / AFP

Hollywood studio Universal Pictures on Wednesday teased new movies from Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan, while showcasing footage from its upcoming sequels "Jurassic World Rebirth" and "Wicked: For Good" at the CinemaCon event.

Spielberg "is currently shooting a film that promises to be a return to form, in the spirit of his monumental classics," said Universal executive Jim Orr, at the movie theater industry summit in Las Vegas.

The untitled film, out June 2026, is widely rumored to be a blockbuster sci-fi. Orr promised it would contain "a propulsive, modern, out-of-this-world twist," without sharing further details.

Meanwhile, Nolan is in the Mediterranean shooting his star-studded version of "The Odyssey," based on the millennia-old Ancient Greek epic saga written by Homer.

It is due July 2026, starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, alongside Tom Holland, Zendaya and Anne Hathaway, AFP said.

In a prediction bold even by the standards of Hollywood marketing, Orr suggested the film "will be a once-in-a-generation cinematic masterpiece that Homer himself would, quite frankly, be very proud of."

The comments came at CinemaCon, an annual week-long summit at which Hollywood studios present their biggest upcoming movies to theater owners and press.

A theme of this year's event has been a drive to get studios to commit to keeping new movies in US theaters for at least 45 days before they appear on streaming.

A source with knowledge of the talks told AFP Wednesday that three of Hollywood's six biggest studios have committed.

Universal, which has in recent years brought many of its films to on-demand streaming very soon after they debut in theaters, has not yet agreed to the new 45-day "window," the source said. The studio did not immediately comment.

But its efforts to court movie theater owners Wednesday included showing extended new footage and A-list stars from the next Jurassic movie -- out this July.

It comes from the writer of the original 1993 "Jurassic Park." The action returns to that film's island setting.

Unlike the "Jurassic World" films where dinosaurs freely roamed the globe, the fearsome reptiles are now once again scarce, surviving in a few remote spots.

Star Scarlett Johansson said the film would "put the scares back into Jurassic" by keeping the dinosaurs hidden and ratcheting up the suspense.

Universal's presentation ended with surprise appearances from Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, whose second and final "Wicked" film will hit theaters November.

CinemaCon concludes Thursday with presentations from Paramount and Disney.