Director Sian Heder’s upcoming film Coda (2021) showcases the beauty and struggles of a hearing family member within her deaf family. With her family’s fishing business in turmoil, Emilia Jones (Netflix Locke & Key).
Jones plays Ruby Rossi whose life revolves around acting as interpreter for her parents (Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur) and working on the family’s struggling fishing boat every day before school with her father and older brother (Daniel Durant).
When Ruby joins the choir in school she meets Bernardo Villalobos, the school choir teacher played by Eugenio Derbez (Overboard, Latin Lover), who sees the potential in his new student, takes it upon himself to polish Ruby’s singing abilities. Ruby, then begins to ponder life-changing decisions when she is confronted with having to choose between continuing to help her family or pursuing her own dream of attending a prestigious music school
For Derbez this is the second time around playing a pivotal character in a film, who comes to the aid of a young girl. In 2016 he played Dr. Nurko, a gastroenterologist in Miracles From Heaven, opposite Jennifer Garner, whose daughter in the film he was instrumental in curing.
CODA, an acronym for Child of Deaf Adult, was written and directed by Heder and is produced by Vendome Pictures and Pathé.
CODA is set to be released in theaters and premiere globally on Apple TV+ on August 13, 2021