In filmmaker, actress and writer Shoshannah Stern’s debut documentary, she explores the life of the most influential deaf actor of her generation, Marlee Matlin. Launching into the Hollywood stratosphere at age 19 with her Academy Award®-winning performance in Children of a Lesser God, Matlin became a household name with just one film under her belt. A richly deserved honor for her raw and immersive performance, the recognition also came with a tidal wave of responsibility and layered expectations from both the hearing and deaf communities that Matlin had to contend with while hiding painful secrets in her personal life. 

Here, Stern gets to the core of the extraordinary artist that is Matlin via signed interviews with family, friends and colleagues, all of whom look to her as a shining example of strength and perseverance. We learn of her decades long push to learn from and fight for the enrichment of the deaf community, all the while struggling to maintain her personal career that never seemed to be on sure footing despite her early success. A portrait of a simply luminous presence, Stern’s film is not to be missed.—Liza Domnitz

Shoshannah Stern