Jake Yuzna

Jake Yuzna is an American film director, screenwriter, and curator. Their debut feature Open was the first American film to win the Teddy Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival and in 2005 Yuzna become the youngest recipient of funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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 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.

They have also curated the first American retrospectives of artists and filmmakers including Alejandro Jodorowsky, Sion Sono, Gregg Araki, Francois Sagat, and Quentin Crisp. In addition, Yuzna curated the first museum surveys of Metamodernsim, the New French Extremity, and the medium of VHS.

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

Awards and honors

 * 2005: "Special Jury Award for Artistic Risktaking" from IFP
 * 2010: "Teddy Jury Prize" for Open (60th Berlin Film Festival)
 * 2010: "Best Narrative Feature" for Open (TLV Festival)
 * 2010: "Best Performance" for Morty Diamond in Open (New Fest)
 * 2012: Creative Capital 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 and FilmNorth
 * 2020: "The Blood List" from British Horror Film Festival
 * 2021: "Guggenheim Fellowship" from John Simon Guggenheim Foundation