Oscars: ‘CODA’ and Apple Make History With First Best Picture for a Streaming Service

CODA has taken Apple TV+ to where no streaming service has gone before. The film has captured best picture at Sunday’s Oscars, a first for a streaming service after years of Netflix and other competitors campaigning for such an honor.

In 2016, Amazon’s Manchester by the Sea became the first film from a streamer to land a best picture nomination. This year, Netflix had Don’t Look Up and The Power of the Dog in the best picture race as well. Netflix has tried over the years to nab best picture, but ultimately Apple beat it to the punch. CODA’s win also comes in a year in which the box office remains challenged amid the coronavirus pandemic, and multiple films in the category went day-and-date to streaming, including Dune and King Richard.

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CODA hails from writer-director Sian Heder, who won an Oscar for adapting it from the 2014 hit French film La Famille Bélier. Breakout Troy Kotsur won for best supporting actor.

CODA centers on a blue-collar fishing family, the Rossis, which include a mother, father and son who are deaf, and a daughter, who is hearing and acts as their interpreter to the rest of the world. Its best picture win caps a remarkable journey for the project, which sold to Apple at Sundance for $25 million and was hailed as a watershed moment for deaf representation onscreen.

“Thank you to the Academy for letting our CODA make history tonight,” said producer Philippe Rousselet in accepting the best picture Oscar. He went on to praise his director, recalling their first day of shooting, on which they were supposed to be filming at sea at 4 a.m. but were told a storm was coming their way.

“You’ve kept the boat afloat,” said Rousselet. “You’ve been the best captain a producer can ever dream of.”

This year’s best picture nominees also included Belfast, Drive My Car, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley and West Side Story.