Awards - 29th Frameline Intl Lesbian & Gay Film Festival

THE 2005 FRAMELINE AWARD
Honoring Gregg Araki

Three Bewildered People in the Night

The Long Weekend (O' Despair)

The Living End

Totally F***ed Up

A graduate of the School of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California - where he was particularly influenced by screwball comedies such as BRINGING UP BABY - Araki made his directorial debut in 1987 with THREE BEWILDERED PEOPLE IN THE NIGHT (Frameline12). Created on a $5,000 budget and shot using a stationary camera, this memorable debut film told the story of a romance between a video artist, her lover, and her homosexual friend.

Araki's second outing, THE LONG WEEKEND (O' DESPAIR) (Frameline13), caught the attention of the film industry and critics, winning the Best Independent Film award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Circle in 1989. Again, Araki produced, directed, wrote, photographed, and edited the film, which follows a group of college graduates brooding over their futures during one woozy, boozy evening.

Araki's next film, 1991's THE LIVING END, screened in competition at the Sundance Film Festival and was the Closing Night film of Frameline16. This guys-n-guns road movie, about two HIV-positive men on a wacky and violent trip through the desert, inspired a generation of LGBT filmmakers, and helped to usher in the phenomenon known as the "New Queer Cinema."

Between 1993 and 1997, Araki produced his "teen apocalypse trilogy," beginning with the touching ensemble film TOTALLY F***ED UP. Filled with rage, it chronicled the messed-up lives of six gay adolescents. Araki called it a "cross between avant-garde experimental cinema and a queer John Hughes flick."

His second installment, 1995's THE DOOM GENERATION, was a dark comedy brimming with graphic violence, hard-hitting symbolism, and unrelenting eroticism. His final film of the trilogy, NOWHERE (1997), has been described by Araki as "a ÔBeverly Hills 90210' episode on acid."

An homage to his beloved screwball comedies, Araki's next film, SPLENDOR (1999), was a romantic comedy about a girl who cannot choose between two boys. Hailed as the director's most optimistic film to date, it premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.

Now Araki has given us what is certainly his most accomplished work to date, MYSTERIOUS SKIN. Based on the acclaimed novel by Scott Heim, the film follows two boys approaching adulthood in Anywhere, Middle America. Brian, a shy introvert, is obsessed by his possible UFO abduction, while Neil, a chilling beauty, sexualizes every encounter with the men of his hometown.

With MYSTERIOUS SKIN, Araki shows again that he is one of the most courageous, unconventional, and intriguing voices in independent cinema.