“I Want Your Sex” writer and director Gregg Araki has seen the reports that Generation Z is having less sex and has some notes.

“Like, why aren’t you having sex? What’s going on?” Araki said Variety at the opening night of OutfestNEXT on Thursday at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Renberg Theater. “Sex is a big part of my life. My journey as a person, as an artist, everything is tied to sex, sexual experiences, relationships. All my films are about that. I can’t understand life without it.”

After a decade of working in television, Araki returns to film with the Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman-directed comedy “I Want Your Sex,” which he co-wrote with his “Now Apocalypse” collaborator Karley Sciortino. Follows ambitious artist Erika Tracy (Wilde) as she begins a kinky BDSM relationship with her young assistant, Elliot (Hoffman), leading to Elliot’s sexual awakening, with near-death consequences. Charli xcx, Mason Gooding, Chase Sui Wonders and Daveed Diggs complete the cast.

As OutfestNEXT looks to rebuild after a two-year hiatus due to financial and management issues, the choice of Araki’s film as the opening night screening is significant; The Los Angeles native received Outfest’s achievement award in 2005, a year after the release of his film “Mysterious Skin.”

“I’m very excited to be here at the revival of Outfest. My films have always been made by, for, and about queer people. So they’re my people,” Araki said. “Plus, I’ve lived here most of my life. It’s Los Angeles, it’s weird. It’s coming home!”

Wilde’s provocative, sex-positive character represents Araki’s “spokesperson” in the film: “I’m 60 now. You’re going to turn around and you’ll be 40, 50 like that. Will you regret not taking the risk, venturing out of your house, taking the risk of being hurt, confused, heartbroken? Going out on a bad date, having that bad relationship, having that bad girlfriend. Being in love with the wrong person. That’s damn life! That’s growing up! That’s how you learn about yourself.”

Meanwhile, Hoffman’s character, 23, represents the point of view of Generation Z emerging from the pandemic.

“They haven’t had technology in their entire lives, they’re not used to talking to people! Social interaction makes them uncomfortable,” Araki said. “And besides, they’re constantly being filmed and videotaped. If I thought someone was going to film me walking into that gay bar when I was a teenager, would I have done it? Probably not. Those things need to happen in private.”

“I Want Your Sex” marks the first time Araki has used an intimacy coordinator in one of his films, a practice that has become increasingly common in the last decade (Araki’s last feature was 2014’s “White Bird in a Blizzard”).

“I leave it up to the actors because that’s really what makes them feel most comfortable,” Araki said. “Because there are actors who don’t want an intimacy coordinator. I’ve heard horror stories of people who are bad intimacy coordinators and make it more uncomfortable and awkward. Personally, as a director, I’m very comfortable with sex scenes, I’ve done them my whole life. So I know exactly how to do them, and for actors, that gives them a sense of comfort and security.”

“I’m always there for them because I feel like actors are very vulnerable, which they do just by nature,” she continued. “That’s my job as a director: to make sure the set is a very safe space for them to do their work.”

Araki explained that Wilde came to the set with “a lot more” experience doing nude scenes. Cooper, meanwhile, was “terrified.”

“He’s never done a nude scene, he’s never done a sex scene, but Cooper was like, ‘This scares me to death. But that’s why I want to do it!'” Araki recalled. “That’s why Cooper is a fucking movie star.”

“I Want Your Sex” had the classic Sundance experience earlier this year, with multiple distributors vying for the title in a bidding war before Magnolia Pictures secured U.S. rights. But this type of story is not as common as it once was.

As an independent filmmaker who helped create the New Queer Cinema movement with his 1990s Teen Apocalypse trilogy, comprised of “Totally F**ked Up,” “The Doom Generation,” and “Nowhere,” Araki has gotten a unique front-row seat to the many changes in independent film.

“It’s a really exciting time because the rules are thrown out the window a little bit. Right now, cinema is really relying on younger audiences, Gen Z audiences, the Letterboxd generation. There’s a level of: they don’t want to see the same old shit. A lot of the old Hollywood formulas don’t work anymore, which I think is great,” Araki said. “But it is [still] It’s hard to make a movie, it’s hard to distribute a movie. So I’m grateful that we made this and that it’s coming out in theaters!

“I Want Your Sex” opens in theaters on July 31.