Jessica Yu is a filmmaker based in Los Angeles. She won the 1997 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short for BREATHING LESSONS: THE LIFE AND WORK OF MARK O’BRIEN, an intimate portrait of the writer who lived for four decades paralyzed by polio and confined to an iron lung. The film also won over 20 festival awards, including the IDA Achievement Award, the Audience Award at Aspen Shortsfest, and First Prize at the St. Petersburg International Film Festival, since its debut at the Sundance Film Festival. She also won an Emmy and a Cable Ace Award for Best Documentary Director.
Yu’s current documentary, PROTAGONIST, looks at extremism through the lives of a spectrum of individuals. Funded by Carr Foundation, it will premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Recently she also directed a story for HBO’s upcoming documentary special, ADDICTION.
IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL, Yu’s celebrated feature documentary about the enigmatic outsider” artist Henry Darger
