EDGE Interview: Facing the Mirror: Michael Hyman and Jason Caceres on Vulnerability, Identity, and the Power of Stillness

Filmmaker Michael Hyman unveils Reflections, a daring new video series that turns the camera—and the mirror—on identity, beauty, and self-worth. Shot on 16mm film and inspired by Andy Warhol’s iconic 1960s Screen Tests, the 16 short films invite participants to confront the most intimate and unflinching subject of all: themselves.

Where Warhol’s cultural icons sat still for three minutes before his lens, Hyman raises the stakes. Each Reflections film captures four minutes of silence as subjects face their own mirrored image. The result is both minimalist and deeply revealing.  It is a cinematic experiment in discomfort, vulnerability, and transformation.

“Warhol’s subjects often didn’t know what to do with themselves,” says Hyman. “I wanted to heighten that pressure. By adding the mirror, I asked people to not only sit still, but to truly face who they are.”

Filmed in a single day, the series showcases a diverse cross-section of the LGBTQIA+ community, aligning with Out of Character’s mission to amplify authentic, underrepresented voices. 

Even Hyman himself sat for the camera, completing the cycle of vulnerability. “If I was asking others to go through it, I had to do the same. It was, without question, one of the most uncomfortable things I’ve done.”

While visually spare, the emotional weight of Reflections is layered and profound. “Most participants discovered that their image, positive or negative, is ultimately subjective,” Hyman explains. “What matters is learning to accept what you see.”

In a culture dominated by fleeting 15-second clips, Hyman sees Reflections as a counterpoint to Warhol’s famous “15 minutes of fame” prophecy. “Social media has redefined fame, but the more urgent conversation is about authenticity and what it means to truly see yourself without filters or performance.”

Out actor Jason Caceres, who participated alongside his partner Bryan, hopes the films resonate beyond the LGBTQIA+ community. “I hope viewers see how uniquely different we all are, while also recognizing our shared humanity. We all face the same experience of being human, but it’s our individual reactions to that experience that define us.”

By merging Warhol-inspired visual minimalism with an unapologetically personal lens, Reflections offers audiences a rare cinematic pause: four uninterrupted minutes to watch someone meet themselves in the mirror, and perhaps feel inspired to do the same.

To delve deeper into the creative vision and emotional resonance behind Reflections, we sat down with filmmaker Michael Hyman and actor Jason Caceres to explore the making of the series.

EDGE: Michael, can you tell us what Reflections is about? 

MH: It is about someone being faced with their own reflection in a mirror for four minutes, and they're left alone, and how they react to their own image, and it's an experiment inspired by screen tests by Andy Warhol, who made about 400 of those, which is just someone looking in the lens of a camera. This takes it a step further by examining their own image and how they react. It's interesting to see how people react internally.

EDGE: Jason, what drew you to this project? 

JC: I believe this is my third or fourth time working with Michael, and it's always a fun time. He's a very creative and forward-thinking producer, director, and writer. I love the way his brain works. It's almost avant-garde, and it feels like a different direction than most people take with their mainstream projects. It's a little bit more introspective. It's Warhol-esque. Michael knows I'm obsessed with Andy Warhol. I did my senior project on him. So when he said this was based on Andy Warhol screen tests, I had to do it. 

EDGE: Michael, what qualities were you looking for in your actors when casting for this project?

MH: I wanted a diverse group of LGBTQIA+ community members. Some people were friends, and some were people we cast. We really wanted people who were willing to undergo the experiment. 4 minutes doesn’t sound like a lot, but it actually is. 

EDGE: Jason, you participate with your partner, Bryan. Did you find that your personal connection added depth to your video?

JC: I hesitate to say the first thing that came to my mind, but as an actor in this industry, I spend a lot of time looking in the mirror. I'm alone with my reflection in the mirror, which is something I'm very comfortable with because I run lines in the mirror. I talk to myself in the mirror. I study every single facial feature, tic, and mannerism heavily in the mirror. Having someone else with me there, especially someone I'm in a romantic relationship with, added this layer of fun, but I also had moments where I was a little self-conscious because at the time of filming we haven't been dating for that long and when you're with someone and the relationship is relatively new, there's not a lot of pauses and silence. You want to fill the empty space and keep the conversation flowing. This project forced us to be silent together and study each other's body language, which made me oddly nervous even though I had been with him for about a year. We giggled and laughed. I remember asking Michael, “What if I laugh? Does that count as silence?” He responded with “Just do whatever your natural reactions are, because that's what we want to see.

EDGE: Michael, did you give any direction?

MH: No, the only direction I really gave was you can't make any mistakes and just be yourself. And whatever happens, it's okay. 

EDGE: For both of you - What were you thinking about while being filmed?

MH: I was really uncomfortable. I don't normally stare at myself in the mirror, so it was tough. I felt that if I'm asking 15 other people to do the experiment, then I should do it too. We had no idea what we would get from it, but I think all of the videos turned out amazing. I will say I am much better behind the camera than in front of it. 

JC: I have a very anxious personality, and with my partner there with me, my brain was going a mile a minute. I was thinking, will he hate me for doing this? Is he uncomfortable? Is this weird? I had all these wild thoughts. My partner is a behind-the-scenes person and not used to being in front of the camera. so I was a little nervous. My thought was, 'What am I supposed to do? Am I fidgeting too much? Am I standing still? Am I giving the appropriate reactions?’ After a while, all that subsided, and I settled in. Four minutes is a very long time, but once I relaxed and let the experience take over, I started to feel better. 

EDGE: If Reflections could spark one conversation among viewers, what would you want that conversation to be?

MH: To continue to accept ourselves as who we are, and especially in this political climate, and even more so, be able to look ourselves in the mirror and be proud of who we are and drown out the noise of everything that's wrong with us when there's nothing wrong with us. I hope that people will consider making their own film at home and creating their own four-minute reflection, as I would love to post them at some point. Please send them in. 

EDGE: What’s next for you after this project?

MH: To double down on Mr. Warhol, Out on Fire Media is filming a series of 52-second interviews called "15 Seconds of Fame," which is a commentary on "15 Minutes of Fame," but now, with social media and TikTok, everything is 15 seconds. We'll be filming short interviews with a lot of people, and early next year, we have a project about the transgender experience and also a crystal meth addiction project about those within the gay community.

JC: While Michael is out tackling the very tough projects within our community, I have two very queer campy projects coming out that are on the lighter side. I have a season two of a campy sex comedy that I'm in, called Open To It, which is coming out on Out TV. I’ve also just wrapped a campy murder mystery comedy for OUT TV. It's OUT TV's first original scripted series called Laid Bare. I believe it is being released early next year. So, look out for both of those for OUT TV. 

Reflections premiered on October 1 on  youtube.com/@OutofCharacterMedia  and at OutofCharacter.com