KASIMIR BURGESS
Director
Kasimir’s interest in other cultures has lead him to PNG to direct a documentary on children affected by AIDS, to remote indigenous communities to teach filmmaking and to the Torres Straight Islands to record important cultural songs that might otherwise be forgotten. These films, along with his collaborative work with artists have been screened and collected by The National Gallery of Victoria, Heidi Centre for Contemporary Art, The Melbourne Arts Centre and The Australian Centre for The Moving Image.
Kasimir’s films explore universal themes that seem to resonate with people from many cultures and walks of life and have screened in over thirty countries at festivals including Locarno, Stockholm and Hamburg. His films have won twenty-five awards – including the Crystal Bear for best short film at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival for Lily. In 2005 a jury made up of Lou Reed, Dame Judy Dench and Anton Corbijn awarded Booth Story the Film of The Festival at Raindance Film Festival (UK). In 2008 George Lucas awarded Directions Best Short at the Tiburon Int’l Film Festival (US). In 2009 the Sapporo Film Festival, (Japan’s leading short film festival), held a retrospective of Kasimirs’ films, an indicator as to his reach and dedication to the form. His latest film, featuring Geoffrey Rush, premiered at the 2012 Melbourne Int’l Film Festival.