Oliver Sacks: His Own Life explores the life and work of the legendary neurologist and storyteller, as he shares intimate details of his battles with drug addiction, homophobia, and a medical establishment that accepted his work only decades after the fact. Sacks, known for his literary works Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, was a fearless explorer of unknown cognitive worlds who helped redefine our understanding of the brain and mind, the diversity of human experience, and our shared humanity.

Sacks, best known for inspiring the Robin Williams-Robert De Niro movie Awakenings, was a fascinating man - very much shaped by the era in which he lived. The treatment dished out to his schizophrenic brother Michael convinced him that there had to be a more compassionate way to deal with people living with mental illness. Additionally, his experience living as a gay man in a profoundly homophobic society led him to seek refuge in bodybuilding and subsequently dabbling with recreational drugs. All the time pushing his body and mind to the very edge of life and reason again and again. When he reached a crisis point in his life, he finally realised he had to get help, and began undergoing psychoanalysis. It was then that he began to realise the power of the mind and started to exert his own influence on the world. 

The film features exclusive interviews with Sacks conducted just weeks after he received a terminal diagnosis, and months prior to his death in August 2015.

“A sharp tribute to a healer who almost failed to heal himself.” - Stephen Farber, The Hollywood Reporter

"A portrait of the poetic neurologist of 'Awakenings,' shot at the end of his life, takes a tender and thrilling look at the sacred demons that drove him.” - Owen Gleiberman, Variety