Going to the movies is not always a fun experience for people who cannot hear. Film showings in theaters with captions -- the written words the actors are saying -- are limited. And the special equipment needed to read the captions is often broken or unavailable. A new movie aims to change that. “CODA” is a coming-of-age story about the only hearing member of a deaf family. It opens in theaters Friday. The film will be shown with captions that require no special equipment to see. Marlee Matlin plays a deaf mother in the film. She is the only deaf performer to ever win an Oscar, which she won for her work in “Children of a Lesser God” in 1987. Matlin said, “It couldn’t be more groundbreaking.” In other words, the film is introducing new ideas and ways of filmmaking to the world. CODA” won four awards at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Along with playing in theaters across the United States and Britain, "CODA" also will be available with full subtitles in more than 36 languages on Apple TV+, starting Friday. Apple worked with movie theater operators to make sure the film would be played with captions for all moviegoers. This kind of captioning is known as open captions. Experts believe it is the first film released in theaters to offer open captions. It is historic, it is huge for all [of] us, said Daniel Durant, a deaf actor who plays son Leo in the film. This is a day we have waited to see for so many years, he added. The letters in the film’s name “CODA” stand for “children of deaf adults.” The film tells the story of a high school student named Ruby. She has grown up having to interpret for her deaf father, mother and brother. The family communicates with sign language.
