Gregg Araki

Born intoa Japan­ese-Amer­i­can fam­i­lyin Los Ange­les, Gregg Ara­ki grad­u­at­ed witha degreein film the­o­ry fromthe Uni­ver­si­tyof San­ta Bar­bara, before study­ing direct­ingat the Uni­ver­si­tyof California.

Influ­encedby Jean-Luc Godard, John Waters and David Lynch, he direct­ed hisfirst fea­turefilm, Three Bewil­deredPeo­ple in the Night, in 1987. Shot in 16mm for under$5,000, it tookhome three awards fromthe Locarno Film Fes­ti­val and remains emblem­at­icof guer­ril­la-style Amer­i­can film­mak­ing. The direc­tor shat­teredthe screen with his third fea­ture, The Liv­ing End,in 1992. Tak­ingthe AIDS epi­dem­ic head-on, the film wasthe talk of the Sun­dance Film Fes­ti­val and launchedGregg Ara­ki as one of the major auteurs of the “New Queer Cin­e­ma” along withGus Van Sant and Todd Haynes.

Withthe “TeenageApoc­a­lypse” tril­o­gy, Gregg Ara­ki rede­finedon-screen rep­re­sen­ta­tionfor the LGBTQI+ com­mu­ni­tyand affirmed hisstyle: punk aes­thet­ics, explo­sive sto­ries and col­or­ful char­ac­ters.