Jake Yuzna is an American

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

, and

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

. Their debut feature

Open Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * ''Open'' (Gerd Dudek, Buschi Niebergall, and Edward Vesala album), 1979 * ''Open'' (Go ...

was the first American film to win the Teddy Jury Prize at the

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

and in 2005 Yuzna become the youngest recipient of funding from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

. Although known mainly for their work in film, Yuzna has curated several retrospectives, exhibitions and special projects. In 2010, they founded the first cinema program at the

Museum of Arts and Design The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), based in Manhattan, New York City, collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the ...

in New York City. Between 2011 - 2013 they organized the first fellowship, publication and conference to argue nightlife as a form of contemporary art. In addition, Yuzna has authored books on contemporary art, design, and culture as well as contributed to

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ × 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notably ...

. They have also curated the first American retrospectives of artists and filmmakers including

Alejandro Jodorowsky Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (; born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean and French Experimental film, avant-garde filmmaker. Known for his films ''El Topo'' (1970), ''The Holy Mountain (1973 film), The Holy Mountain'' (1973) and ''Santa Sangre'' ...

Sion Sono is a Japanese filmmaker, author, and poet. Best known on the Film festival, festival circuit for the film ''Love Exposure'' (2008), he has been called "the most subversive filmmaker working in Japanese cinema today", a "Stakhanovite movement, ...

Gregg Araki Gregg Araki (born December 17, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is noted for his involvement with the New Queer Cinema movement. His ''Teenage Apocalypse'' film trilogy, consisting of ''Totally F***ed Up ''(1993), ''The Doom Generation ''(1995) ...

, Francois Sagat, and

Quentin Crisp Quentin Crisp (born Denis Charles Pratt; – ) was an English raconteur, whose work in the public eye included a memoir of his life and various media appearances. Before becoming well known, he was an artist's model, hence the title of h ...

. In addition, Yuzna curated the first museum surveys of Metamodernsim, the

New French Extremity New French Extremity describes a range of French films made at the turn of the 21st century that were considered extreme or transgressive. Films of the New French Extremity are characterized by graphic depictions of violence, especially sexual vio ...

, and the medium of

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

. Yuzna is the son of poet Susan Yuzna and nephew to horror film director and producer

Brian Yuzna Brian Yuzna is an American film producer, director, and writer. He is best known for his work in the science fiction and horror film genres. Yuzna began his career as a producer for several films by director Stuart Gordon, such as ''Re-Animator ...

Filmography

Awards and honors

*2005: "Special Jury Award for Artistic Risktaking" from IFP *2010: " Teddy Jury Prize" for

(60th

) *2010: "Best Narrative Feature" for

(TLV Festival) *2010: "Best Performance" for Morty Diamond in

(New Fest) *2012:

Creative Capital Creative Capital is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in New York City that supports artists across the United States through funding, counsel, gatherings, and career development services. Since its founding in 1999, Creative Capital has co ...

Award in Filmmaking *2018: "Richard P. Rogers Spirit of Excellence Award" from the America Film Institute *2019: "McKnight Fellowship in Media Artists" from

McKnight Foundation The McKnight Foundation is an American Minnesota-based family foundation. Established in 1953, the McKnight Foundation maintains a $2.5 billion endowment, which it distributes in grants. In 2022, the foundation issued $120 million, supporting Min ...

and FilmNorth *2020: "The Blood List" from

British Horror Film Festival The British Horror Film Festival (BHFF) is an independent film festival that takes place annually in the United Kingdom and is one of four events hosted by the Film Festival Guild, including the British Animation Film Festival, the British In ...

*2021: "Guggenheim Fellowship" from

John Simon Guggenheim Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is a private foundation formed in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Gr ...

Publications

Curation

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yuzna, Jake 1982 births American people of German descent American male screenwriters American experimental filmmakers American documentary film directors English-language film directors Living people Film directors from Minnesota Writers from Minneapolis American LGBTQ film directors American LGBTQ screenwriters Screenwriters from Minnesota American queer men