SYNOPSIS

BREATHING LESSONS, a documentary by award-winning film maker Jessica Yu, explores the unique world of Mark O'Brien, the poet-journalist who has lived for four decades paralyzed in an iron lung. Incorporating the vivid imagery of O'Brien's poetry and his candid, wry, and often profound reflections on work, sex, death and God, this provocative documentary asks: What is a life worth living? By presenting O'Brien's life from his point of view, the film provides an intimate window into the reality of a life of severe disability, as well as an illuminating portrait of a remarkable artist.

Director/Producer/Writer/Editor

JESSICA YU <InscrutF@aol.com>

Yu's other films include the black & white short SOUR DEATH BALLS, which won several awards, including Best Live Action Short at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, was featured at many international film festivals, including Berlin, Sundance, Telluride, Toronto, the San Francisco International Film Festival, Sydney, and the New Directors/New Films series at the Museum of Modern Art, and was broadcast on the national PBS series ALIVE TV; THE CONDUCTOR, a musical comedy short featuring Mark Salzman (IRON AND SILK), shown at the Toronto Worldwide Short Film Festival, the International Festival for Comedy Films in Vevey, the Asian Cinevision Film Festival, and the Festival der Nationen, Austria, where it won a Silver Bear; and HOME BASE: A CHINATOWN CALLED HEINLENVILLE, on permanent exhibit at the San Jose Historical Museum, winner of a CINE Golden Eagle, American Film and Video Association, National Educational Film and Video Festival, MUSE, and Joey Awards. She was associate producer on the Academy Award-nominated ROSE KENNEDY: A LIFE TO REMEMBER and MAYA LIN, recent winner of the 1995 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary.

Yu recently served on the Board of Directors of the International Documentary Association, where she was an organizing committee member of the first International Documentary Congress. Yu has also written for Pacific News Service, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, and Buzz magazine. She won the Edward R. Murrow Award for Journalism from the Skeptics Society in 1995. She has been a featured guest on THE JON STEWART SHOW, THE OTHER SIDE, and GOOD DAY L.A.

Yu's recent Independent Television Service (ITVS) presentation, MEN OF REENACTION, a feature documentary about Civil War reenactors, is scheduled for public television release in May 1996. Check your local listings!

SHANA HAGAN <SHaganDP@aol.com>

Shana Hagan has shot over 30 films, both narrative and documentary. She recently completed shooting her first feature film, INDEMNITY, an ultra-low budget project shot in Oregon. Some of her other cinematography credits include A WEDDING STORY for the Discovery Network, Yu's MEN OF REENACTION and THE CONDUCTOR, OPERATION WALKING SHIELD - A HOME FOR THE SIOUX, PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST - VICTOR HUGO ZAYAS, and THE MAKING OF "APOLLO 13". Her film GRACE won Loyola Marymount University's Jack Haley, Jr. Award. Shana has just finished directing and shooting a documentary profiling a group of volunteer American surgeons in Kazakhstan, Russia.

SANDRA TSING LOH

Sandra Tsing Loh's solo piano CD, PIANOVISION (K2B2 Records), recently licensed to Japan via May Kiss records, can be heard frequently on NPR's "Morning Edition." In 1994, the Los Angeles Chamber Ballet commissioned her piece "Cabin Fever," which was nominated for a Lester Horton Award in composition. Her other works include: "ShiPOOpeE! The American Musical Deconstructed," featured at the International Design Conference, and the mini-opera "The Golden Ring," commissioned by eXindigo! She appears frequently on Bonnie Grice's "Commuter Classics" on KUSC. She is a member of the Independent Composers Association and the Lo Cal Composers.

Loh also writes a monthly column for Buzz magazine. Her first humor collection, Depth Takes a Holiday: Essays from Lesser Los Angeles, was published by Riverhead Books in June, 1996.

For information about PICASSO MAN, the upcoming CD featuring music based on Sandra Tsing Loh's original themes for BREATHING LESSONS, please contact:

Kittridge Street Records
14431 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 114
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
Phone: (818) 377-5285

AWARDS

Mark and his friend Elizabeth DuVall

• 1996 Academy Award, Best Documentary (Short Subject)

• International Documentary Association (IDA) Achievement Award for Best Short Documentary

• Best Film in the Category of Disability Information/Educational Resources,
  Disability Film Festival, Atlanta, Georgia

• Screening debut at the Sundance Film Festival, January, 1996.

• The Audience & Horizon Awards
  1996 Aspen Filmfest.

• The Silver Spire Trophy in Biography
  1996 San Francisco Film Festival's Golden Gate Awards.

• Best Short Documentary
  The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Competition, March, 1996.

• Best Documentary Short
  20th Cleveland International Film Festival, March, 1996.

• Best Nonfiction Film
  National Short Film & Video Competition, USA Film Festival (Dallas, Texas), April, 1996.

• Filmothek-Forum Prize
  The Oberhausen International Short Film Festival (Oberhausen, Germany), April, 1996.

• Juror's Choice Award
  Charlotte Film and Video Festival, May, 1996.

• Centaur Prize for Best Short Documentary
  St. Petersburg International Film Festival (St. Petersburg, Russia), June, 1996.

• Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Documentary
  Florida International Film Festival, June 1996.

• Grand Prize: "The Great Prize of the City of Vila do Conde"
  The International Short Film Festival of Vila do Conde, Portugal, July, 1996.

CONTACT INFORMATION

BREATHING LESSONS is produced by Inscrutable Films and Pacific News Service.

The distributor of the Video Tape of BREATHING LESSONS is Fanlight Productions in Boston. To order your copy today call Fanlight at 1-800-937-4113 or send e-mail to <Fanlight@tiac.net> for more information.

For other inquiries, please contact Inscrutable Films <InscrutF@aol.com> or call Pacific News Service at (415) 438-4755.