Why Marlee Matlin Insisted That a Deaf Person Direct the Documentary About Her Life: ‘It’s More Authentic’

variety.com:

Angelique Jackson Four years ago, Oscar winner Marlee Matlin experienced the magic of a Sundance premiere virtually when the heartfelt indie “CODA” made its debut at the fest (it then sold for $25 million to Apple on the way to winning the Oscar for best picture).

But this year, Matlin gets to enjoy Sundance in-person with the debut of the documentary about her life and career, “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore,” which premiered before a packed house at the Eccles Theatre in Park City, Utah on Thursday. “You just gave me chills,” Matlin tells Variety a couple days before the festival, thinking ahead to how she’ll feel as a roomful of strangers watch her story play out on the big screen. “Being in Eccles and opening the festival is pretty cool, I have to say.” We’ve convened over Zoom with the documentary’s director Shoshannah Stern and their interpreters (Jack Jason, Matlin’s longtime interpreter, and Karri Aiken, who works with Stern) to discuss what separated this experience from writing her revealing 2010 memoir “I’ll Scream Later.” In the book, Matlin divulged intimate details about her sudden and permanent hearing loss at eighteen months old; navigating the high and lows of Hollywood after becoming the first deaf actor to win an Academy Award for her breakout role in “Children of a Lesser God”; and her abusive relationship with her co-star in that film, the late William Hurt, among other challenges.

Though the headlines that come out of the documentary might be “old news” to some, the way they’re presented is revelatory — thanks, in large part, to the way Stern frames them. “One is words in print, and one is sign language — it’s visual,” Matlin explains.