A SHOW-SHANNAH STOPPER
This article was originally published in the May 24, 2025 Edition
At this weekend’s 10th annual Mammoth Film Festival, they’re saving the best for last. The closing film, a documentary titled “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore” screens at 7:30 p.m. Sunday. It is the directorial debut of Shoshannah Stern, who helms an intimate look at one of her idols and mentors.
Matlin was the first deaf actor to win an Academy Award. She won Best Actress for the 1986 film “Children of a Lesser God.” She was just 19 when the film was shot, and 21 when she received the Oscar.
The film chronicles Matlin’s championing of causes for the deaf community, her tumultuous relationship with “Children” co-star Bill Hurt, her drug addiction, her struggle to make a career in Hollywood following her initial splash, and ultimately, the resilience it took to transform the primary adjective from ‘deaf’ actress to ‘great’ actress.
And bookends with Troy Kotsur becoming the second deaf actor to win an Oscar for 2022’s Coda. In that film, Matlin plays his wife.
Shoshannah Stern is an accomplished actress in her own right. And has had recurring roles on Grey’s Anatomy (as its first deaf doctor), Supernatural, Weeds and more.
Shoshannah also created, wrote, executive produced and starred in the critically acclaimed Sundance Now series, This Close with Josh Feldman, the first show to ever be created and written by Deaf people.
The Sheet interviewed Ms. Stern this week, where she brilliantly turned my lousy questions into a decent interview.
Lunch: Thoroughly enjoyed the film. And this is coming from a guy who just watched Celtics City on HBO Max on HBO Max, so I can’t say this one was in my wheelhouse. But some films and people are just … compelling.
Stern: Thank you. It was always my hope that this story could appeal to people who lived far outside of the experience the film illustrates. I’m happy to learn it applies to people who watch Celtics City as well!
Lunch: I came to the film knowing almost nothing. I’m more familiar with Marlee Matlin from her stint on West Wing than I am with Children of a Lesser God. I haven’t watched the Oscars in years and couldn’t name any Best Picture Winner from the previous ten.
That’s part of the reason why your film was so delicious. I had no bloody idea who Troy Kotsur was, or why he was even being interviewed until, bam, he’s in Coda and wins an Oscar.
If it weren’t true, I’d swear you were making it up.
Stern: Right? Real life can be stranger than fiction.
Lunch: I honestly thought he may be living in a Sprinter Van on a beach somewhere, but no matter …
Stern: I mean, he might very well be!
Lunch: You were a first-time director, taking on the task of profiling an idol/ mentor of yours. How nervous were you about fucking it up?
Stern: Okay, I love this question because I am usually very skilled at being nervous about fucking things up. But the truth is I actually got over that very fast with this one for several reasons.
One was the absolute trust that Marlee put in me with the telling of her story. That trust was a true testament to her, because she really made a gift out of her story, put it in my hands, and basically said, here, go make something out of it. Because I felt that deep trust right off the bat, I knew she would never do that if she didn’t have confidence in me, even if I had never done this before. So I told myself maybe that was even subconsciously why – because in her decades long career she has seen her story be told so many times before by experienced people, and she felt it was time it be told differently.
I also knew what the film would be very early on because it’s a story that I have also lived myself in so many ways. So many words you see being ascribed to her in the film have also been ascribed to me, and so many other deaf people that aren’t in the entertainment world at all. There’s an assumption about the kind of life we lead and the way we should see ourselves that has been inherent for a very long time, and those are things she has had to push against the moment she entered the public eye. For that reason, all the moments in the archival in the film are moments that have been seared in my mind.
The minute I started working with our brilliant editor Sara Newens very early on in the process, I could tell her and our archivist Yael Chanoff the exact moments to look for in archival, down to the color of the shirt she was wearing sometimes, because they live in my memory, just as they do so many other deaf people.
By telling her story, I was also telling my story too, as well as so many others who share in our collective experience.
Lunch: What access did you expect to be given and were there things that were off-limits?
I ask because we only get a brief glimpse of one daughter (in reaction to the publication of her autobiography) and there’s no interview with her husband.
Were these things you had to ultimately cut as being ancillary, or are you saving that for the sequel?
Stern: I didn’t expect any access except what she wanted to give, because consent is paramount to me. I was very fortunate that Marlee was very generous with us all from the very beginning. She had no idea what story I was making or what sort of questions I asked of anyone, she just let me do what I needed to do.
As I hope the film demonstrates, this world imposes a significant amount of discomfort on certain individuals in order to make things more comfortable for others. I did not want the experience of this film to be a comfortable one for her and her family. It just so happened that three of her four children lived in other states at the time, as they were all in college, and Sarah was the only one who was local. I knew I would love to have her in the film because there has always been this overarching theme of motherhood present, but I knew she was expecting and how singular that time is, and I’m so very grateful that she asked to be a part of the film.
As a wife of a hearing man and the mother of our child, I know that people are very interested in the inner workings of our family. You’d be surprised at how often people will watch our conversations when we’re out in public and then ask questions about the choices we have made.
I really don’t mind that observance, but I do mind the amount of access they expect to have. The inner workings of anyone’s relationship and their family is just that. If Marlee or I choose to talk about them, that’s fine, but none of that information should be demanded unless we so choose.
There is also a tendency for people to define women by their family, and I knew from the beginning it was time for Marlee to reclaim her story for herself, while also showing how deeply invested she is in her family. There were also, of course, so many storylines that we simply could not keep because of time constraints. If we wanted to make this a limited series, we certainly could have! But I think the important parts are all there, and we still show glimpses at what we don’t get into enough where people can get a full illustration of who she is.
Lunch: What parts of Marlee’s story did you learn during the process and how much did you already know going into it? What was the biggest surprise?
Stern: I knew almost everything she had gone through, both because I’ve followed her career and her life since first seeing her win her Oscar at seven years old, and because of her autobiography.
The biggest surprise for me was her bravery and her vulnerability. They’ve always been two sides of the same coin to me, but I think there was something that came over her when I interviewed her. I think it may be because, for the first time on film, she didn’t need to explain her experience to the interviewer or worry about how her words would be interpreted. I told her that I would be there with her in the conversation and that it would be just that, a conversation rather than an interview. Perhaps it was because of that, but she was so honest and so brave in not just re-examining her past, but being able to process them in real time.
Lunch: Who are some of your directorial influences?
Stern: I love Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk’s ability to get to the truth in Athlete A and Audrie and Daisy. Jon was my director of photography so he was there with me for most of those shoots, and Bonni produced the film and really believed in and saw my vision from very early on. I have always loved Ang Lee’s use of silence and I loved what Alison O’Daniel did with the captions in The Tuba Thieves, so I asked her to do the captions for us. Working with another deaf woman on enhancing the creative potential of captions to add a layer of the story while making them more accessible, in the telling of the story of the woman who largely helped make them possible in the first place was magical.
Lunch: What are some of your favorite films?
Stern: This was my first time stepping into the documentary world, so I was deeply inspired by Pretty Baby, Pamela, A Love Story and Framing Britney Spears.
Lunch: Is Henry Winkler the greatest guy who ever lived?
Stern: Yes.
Lunch: If it’s a rite of passage for every deaf actress to play Sarah in Children of a Lesser God, what is the rite of passage for every deaf actor?
Stern: You’d have to ask a deaf actor that, but while there are other stories about our community, and certainly plays that center deaf men as leads, none have reached the level of familiarity as Children, so maybe playing Orin in Children of a Lesser God?
Lunch: Were you able to talk Aaron Sorkin into writing the next “Children?” You kind of goaded him about it in the film.
Stern: First of all, I don’t think anyone could ever goad Aaron Sorkin into anything! But Aaron was one of my favorite interviews because he’s so curious and so open. I think he wanted to ask me questions more than he wanted to answer them, so we ended up going way off book and just having a lovely and lively conversation.
I remember wondering if it was a risk, but something inside me told me just to go with it and let it be. Then, during the editing process, our brilliant editor Sara found a way to incorporate that in a way that really made the film better.
But because Aaron has a way of listening with his entire being, he did say something among those lines, yes, all on his own.
But he is also kind of busy being one of the best writers of our times, so I will not hold my breath and will instead always remember just how lovely he was. They say never meet your heroes but I am so glad I did.
Lunch: This isn’t even a question. I loved the silences the film. So many people fill the silences with noise. Dull noise. Uninteresting noise. Noise for the sake of noise. Talk talk talk. Blah blah blah.
Stern: Thank you.
Lunch: Similarly, I loved Marlee’s description of how loud it can be in her brain.
Stern: Thank you.
Lunch: I was interested in knowing how Marlee has learned to resolve conflict within her marriage. She married super young, and on the heels of a relationship (and an upbringing) where conflict wasn’t resolved very well, if at all.
Stern: That’s really a question for her, and perhaps one that should remain between her and Kevin. But her story has often been a Cinderella story, at least the way it’s been told up until now.
While she really was plucked out of obscurity and sent to the Oscars in a beautiful dress, I feel that may be something of a disservice to her, because Marlee has worked so very hard for everything she has ever done.
It was crucial for me to ensure that this film conveyed joy, as she is a truly joyful person. She doesn’t live a sad, tortured life, even though she has gone through events that have been traumatic. That’s why I knew I had to incorporate her family and her marriage in the film to make sure that joy was captured.
It always makes me tear up when I see Kevin sign his vows to her on her wedding day. To me that is such a simple moment with so much profound depth to it.
