(L—R) Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur, and Shoshannah Stern attend the 2025 Sundance Film Festival “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore” premiere at Eccles Theatre. (Photo by George Pimentel/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)
By Jessica Herndon
Premiering in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore is a stunning, intimate portrait of one of Hollywood’s most groundbreaking artists. Directed by Shoshannah Stern in her feature debut, the film begins with a tender conversation between Stern and Marlee Matlin, who are bound by shared experience and mutual admiration. Stern, who found her own path as a Deaf actor inspired by Matlin’s meteoric rise, crafts a layered exploration of triumph, trauma, and transformation.
In front of a packed house at the Eccles Theatre, Stern introduces her film in American Sign Language. “I really want to thank Marlee Matlin for trusting me with her story. It has been the biggest honor of my life,” she expresses, and which is interpreted to the crowd as they enthusiastically reply with Deaf applause.
In 1987, at just 21 years old, Matlin made history as the first Deaf actor to win an Academy Award for her unforgettable debut performance in Children of a Lesser God. That moment not only made her the fourth actor ever to win an Oscar for their first film but also placed her under an intense spotlight, where she received both adoration and scrutiny. Stern begins to dig into Matlin’s story here.
Through the director’s lens, Matlin recounts her life in American Sign Language, weaving her story together with interviews from friends, collaborators, and loved ones. Among them is Jack Jason, Matlin’s interpreter throughout her career, who recalls the barrage of insensitive questions she faced after her Oscar win — questions laced with ignorance about her identity as a Deaf actor. From being accused of winning on a “sympathy vote” to invasive remarks about her “acceptance” of being Deaf, Matlin’s early successes were shadowed by Hollywood’s narrow-mindedness.
Still, her resilience is astounding. As the documentary reveals, she used her platform to push for change. She became an advocate for closed captions on all programming and participated in pivotal protests like the one highlighted in the 2025 Sundance Film Festival documentary Deaf President Now!. Stern also captures the tension Matlin navigated with the Deaf community itself, particularly after her controversial Oscar presenter speech where she spoke but didn’t sign. As Stern’s childhood friend John Maucere, an ASL storyteller featured in the film, says, “She changed the world.”
While the film delves into darker chapters — including her abusive relationship with actor William Hurt, her battle with addiction, and her struggle to find solid roles — it also highlights her bright spots. Matlin’s charm shines through in her friendship with Henry Winkler, who appears in the film. Guest roles in Seinfeld and The West Wing marked turning points in her career, but the success of CODA (2021 Sundance Film Festival) brought her back to center stage, and her Deaf co-star Troy Kotsur’s Oscar win for best supporting actor made her feel less alone.
When the premiere of Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore concludes, Stern and Matlin are welcomed onto the stage with a standing ovation. “I wanted to make this movie for Marlee and also for me and my younger self, and for all Deaf children out there who are able to see this — for them to have their own words to define the way that they feel and to know that they are not what the world has decided that they are,” Stern says in American Sign Language. Adds Matlin, also in ASL, “I felt that it was time to tell my story. I knew that [Stern] would tell it 2000 times a percentage more, in an authentic way — and it was.”
When a Deaf audience member is invited to join the cast and crew on stage, she thanks the team for the film and asks, in American Sign Language, what Matlin and Stern envision for the future. Smiling, Matlin holds her hand to her heart in gratitude and expresses that her production company has several projects in the works — and that she is already talking with Stern about another project. “Marlee has been the first in navigating and making the path and creating more space, especially for me,” adds Stern. “And I want to continue creating more space for more Deaf creators.”
