Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien is a 1996 American short documentary film directed by Jessica Yu. Mark O'Brien was a journalist and poet who lived in Berkeley, California. The documentary explored his spiritual struggle coping with his disability; he had to use an iron lung much of the time due to childhood polio. O'Brien died on 4 July 1999, from post-polio syndrome. It won an Oscar at the 69th Academy Awards in 1997 for Documentary Short Subject.
Direction
Jessica Yu finds visual poetry in extreme physical limitation.
Writing
O'Brien's own words—wry, horny, spiritually desperate.
Director
Jessica Yu
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Jessica Yu was the first Asian American woman to win an Oscar for directing—she used her $5,000 budget to rent a second iron lung as a dolly.
This doc directly inspired the 2012 feature 'The Sessions' with John Hawkes, but O'Brien's actual screen presence is far more disruptive and funny.
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