Outfest's '4 in Focus' spotlights varied group of filmmakers
L.A.'s gay and lesbian film festival screens movies by up-and-coming directors Javier Fuentes-Leon, Jake Yuzna, Myriam Aziza and Adriana Maggs.
By Mark Olsen, Special to the Los Angeles Times
July 11, 2010
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-indiefocus-20100711,0,192152.storyWith "Open" (which screens Sunday and Wednesday) writer-director Jake Yuzna artfully tells a series of stories set amid the transgender community of Minneapolis, creating an at-times unsettling mix of love and medical technology. The film picked up a Teddy jury prize (given for gay and lesbian films) at the Berlin Film Festival.
"From the beginning I realized the subject matter can seem so extreme to people, we didn't want it to be a freak show or 'look at these weirdoes,'" said Yuzna of his efforts to humanize his characters at all costs. "My point-of-view is that the diversity of humanity is one of the most beautiful things about our existence. The core thing that allows people to bridge those differences is those sorts of universal emotional truths. I really wanted all of the characters to be relatable. I wanted people to empathize and really understand these characters that at face-value can seem so unknowable."
