Starring Roles CODA is a 2021 coming of age comedy drama film written and directed by Sian Heder. The film stars Emilia Jones as the eponymous CODA (child of deaf adults) and the only hearing member of a deaf family. CODA was set in Gloucester, Massachusetts. While its predecessor La Famille Belier was set on a rural dairy farm in France, Heder chose to set CODA in Gloucester, being familiar with summer visits while growing up. Heder explained, “For me, it has the combination of being very picturesque and quintessentially N.E., but also with a working-class grit to it.” Heder learned American Sign Language in the process of writing the script.
To prepare for the film, Heder observed a fish processing plant and consulted our local harbormaster about how authorities would raid a boat. She received feedback from resident Kenneth Lonergan, who directed the 2016 Manchester by the Sea, which was also set in Gloucester, and Manchesterby-the-Sea, along with
members of the fishing industry native nonprofit Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association. CODA had its world premiere on January 28, 2021 at the Sundance Film Festival. It has received nominations at the upcoming 94th Academy Awards, the 79th Golden Globe Awards and the 28th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Prized Poet
Come celebrate the Nobel Prizewinning poet, T.S. Eliot, whose family summered in Gloucester between 1890 and 1919. Young Eliot, a keen sailor, was transfixed by stories of shipwrecks on the local treacherous outcrop of rocks known as The Dry Salvages and would immortalize them in the title of one of the poems in his greatest work Four Quartets. Festival-goers will enjoy birdwatching, a boat tour to the Dry Salvages, theater, poetry readings, and a tour of his summer house. For more information contact www.tseliot.com or tseliotfestival@gmail.com
T.S. Eliot Festival September 24-25, 2022 28
DiscoverGloucester.com
Various locations in Gloucester
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Kudos to CODA!
