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Gregg Araki

One of the angriest, most unconventional, and relentlessly intriguing voices in independent cinema, Gregg Araki made his directorial debut in 1987 with Three Bewildered People in the Night using a budget of only $5,000 and a stationary camera. Two years later, this University of Southern California graduate made a name for himself on the festival circuit with Long Weekend (o' Despair). He followed up in 1992 with The Living End, a road movie about the tumultuous relationship between two HIV-positive men whose paths cross one day. Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, the film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.

Araki's next three films comprised his "Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy" and established his legacy as a cult movie director. Totally Fucked Up (1993) chronicled the dysfunctional lives of six gay adolescents who have formed a family unit and struggle to get along with each other in the face of life's major obstacles. The Doom Generation (1995) was a black comedy brimming with graphic violence, cultural symbolism and relentless eroticism. Nowhere (1997), described by its director as "A Beverly Hills 90210 episode on acid", centered around a group of alienated Los Angeles teenagers during a typical day of kinky sex, drugs, and partying. Starting with this series of films, Araki has become known for utilizing music from the shoegazer genre for his film soundtracks. This trend continued in the films he has since directed: Splendor (1999), Mysterious Skin (2005), and Smiley Face (2007).

Gregg Araki self-identified as gay until 1997, when he entered a relationship with actress Kathleen Robertson, whom he had directed in Nowhere. His film Splendor was largely a response to the controversy surrounding this. Their relationship ended in 1999.