Jake Yuzna

Jake Yuzna is an artist, filmmaker, and curator from Minneapolis.

Their debut feature, OPEN, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival where it became the first American film to receive the Teddy Jury Prize. In addition, Yuzna’s work has been presented by the New Museum of Contemporary Art, Walker Art Center, Red Cat, British Film Institute, as well as at the Cannes, Berlin, Oberhausen, and London Film Festivals, among others. For this work, Yuzna has received grants and awards from the American Film Institute, Creative Capital, Jerome Foundation, Philanthrofund Foundation, Frameline Foundation, Creative Time, McKnight Foundation, IFP, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Yuzna founded the cinema program at the Museum of Arts and Design (NYC) and the Inclusive and Socially Conscious Filmmaking Lab at FilmNorth (Minneapolis). They have curated projects for Performa: The NYC Biennial of Performance Art, the Moscow Biennial of Contemporary Art, the City of Los Angeles, and SCCA-Center for Contemporary Art–Ljubljana. They are the author of THE FUN: The Social Practice of Nightlife in NYC and are a contributor to Artforum International Magazine.

Photo Credit: Andrew Baris