Sian Haider. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Screenplay and Best Picture. Coda manager

I took the work personally.

exactly. I wanted to make this movie in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the same fishing village where I spent my summer vacation as a kid. I know this neighborhood. I know how it looks and smells there. It was very important to me – that everything you see looks real.

Your film is different from the French film of 2014. The deaf characters in your film are not played by hearing people.

I definitely don’t want that! My intention was to introduce deaf viewers to the world of deaf people, and I definitely needed deaf actors for that. “CODA” is an acronym that describes a hearing child who was raised in a deaf family. How am I supposed to talk about this feeling when all the actors hear it? It seemed out of place to me.

On the one hand, your film is interesting and interesting, but on the other – it plunges deeply into the world of the deaf.

in their culture; Yes, it was important for me to show that. We are not dealing here with people with disabilities who want to belong in our world. These people created their own culture. Let’s go back to Pele for a moment. Hearing people play deaf people in film, it often has to do with learning their own language – sign language. but that is not all. Sure, language is in the spotlight, but the identity of the deaf is developing everywhere. How deaf people sit together at the table and eat, say hello, say goodbye and communicate with each other.

I never thought you could swear so much in this language.

What else could happen?

For example, I had a furnished room that was supposed to “play” the living room. When we were about to finish, my advisor came up to me and said it wouldn’t work that way. No deaf family would ever put a sofa like this one. In any case, it should be positioned so that you can observe the door. Because if I couldn’t hear anything, I had to sit with my back to the door. I’ve always loved calling advisors with my “silent eyes”. I learned a lot from her.

In your movie, when the deaf speak, you have to read the dialogues. No other solution would be possible. How important is sound in a movie that your actors don’t hear?

The sound was very important to me. When I was writing the script for the movie, I quickly realized it was going to be 40 percent. Based on deaf conversations. Usually – when the world of hearing meets the world of the deaf in the movies – the hearing says what the deaf show. I definitely don’t want that! When the deaf speak, they do so differently from the dumb. I wanted to clear up this stereotype. That’s why you hear your hands hitting something. You can hear the rustle of the fabrics. People also make sounds when they talk. All this should not be underestimated.

When deaf people talk, the music in your movie is rarely heard.

exactly! We noticed that when we have verbal dialogue, music can have a reinforcing effect. In the case of sign language, it is completely different. Music instantly becomes dominant and goes in a direction we never wanted. There would be some kind of synthetic in it that I wanted to deal with in my film.

Unfortunately, there is a tendency in movies these days to use a lot of music. Often with the argument the viewer needs.

Nonsense! Fortunately, no one who worked with me asked for it. I wanted to hear people immerse themselves in the world of the deaf. It also means that you put up with such scenes when two people are speaking in sign language. For us to hear, that’s pretty cool. But it must be so. Don’t let anyone who sees Koda say later that we’re somehow romanticizing the deaf world. But since we are talking about music: we do not do without it completely. It would be funny to think that my movie is about a young woman who wants to be a singer.

In the end, there comes a point where people sing and your actors don’t hear a thing. And we, as viewers, don’t hear anything either.

Interesting that you mentioned this scene. Because I talked to audio experts about exactly the same thing. They really believed that if we took the music off the stage, at least some of the sound, some notes, should remain. As a privilege to viewers. I didn’t want this. This should be exactly what the actors hear. string! And if it’s uncomfortable for us as viewers, we can ask ourselves what it can be like when we don’t hear anything. This experience is difficult to convey. But I think at some points in the movie we were able to do it really well.

How are deaf people generally presented in the film?

During my research, I quickly noticed that there are very few strong deaf characters in the movies. Even if we look at Marley Matlin in “The Younger Sons of God,” there are things that seem outdated or completely inaccurate from today’s perspective. On TV, you can find some examples that go deeper into this world. But only a little. When I was working on the script, I immediately found a lot of emotion in the deaf world. They wanted to help me avoid clichés, tell me about a real family and its problems. I gladly accepted this help.

How did you find your reps?

Marley Matlin was the first person I asked if she was interested and if she had time. And when she said yes, many doors suddenly opened. Some of the actors have known each other before and played together. So my cast grew step by step. Finally we became friends.

How did you communicate?

Of course with sign language! It was clear to me that I had to learn the language if I wanted to work well with the actors. So when I mention in interviews from time to time that this movie changed my life, it’s so much more than just cliched. I was introduced to a whole new truth and I can only advise everyone not to be afraid to approach such strange worlds. You will learn from this. he deserves it!

When you think of pictures, what surprised you the most?

There is a scene at the end. We didn’t have a sign language interpreter that day. So it relied on what was played. But Marley and Troy didn’t talk about the lines she made. In a very complicated environment, they suddenly started talking about eating spaghetti later. It was completely impromptu. When I saw this scene in the editing room, I laughed a lot. Simply because it was so much better than I could have imagined. It wouldn’t have happened if I understood everything immediately after turning it on. But then the movie would be a much poorer beautiful scene!

There is a moment in your film that I find very brave. I sang the classic Joni Mitchell song “Both Sides Now” and immediately thought: This song belongs on “Love Actually” when Emma Thompson cries for the love of Alan Rickman!

Oh, I love this movie moment too – one forever. You know, when Joni Mitchell first recorded this song, she said it would be the end of her childhood. It matches perfectly with our sapphire. Soon, she will realize her dream and enroll in university. To do this, however, he must leave his deaf family, which they, in turn, consider treason. Joni Mitchell re-recorded the song later, and you can hear the wounds she’s had in her life. I was amazed that one song could sound so different. And that’s why I really wanted to appear in the movie. Ours is a version of a young Johnny who looks at life with hope.