# Kira Bursky

Kira Bursky is a filmmaker, screenwriter, and artist currently based out of Asheville, NC.
All Around Artsy was founded in 2009 by Kira Bursky, a vagabonding storyteller with an insatiable hunger for magic. She has produced over 60 films and music videos that have screened at festivals around the world from Los Angeles to Berlin to Beijing. In 2014 Kira was recognized as National YoungArts Finalist and was a finalist in the White House Student Film Festival where she had the honor of screening her work in the White House. In 2015 Kira was selected as the Best Emerging Female Filmmaker at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY). In 2016 she was featured in Seventeen Magazine as the April issue's Power Girl and received the Emerging Artist to Watch grant through Le Couvent artist residency in France. Kira and her creations have been featured through NPR, Out Magazine, Pride and No Film School to name a few. Her YouTube channel has over 34,000+ subscribers and 16 million+ views.
   "Bursky is just 23 years old, but the Asheville filmmaker is already on a trajectory to becoming one of America’s most incisive and distinctive auteurs." – Matt Peiken, Arts Producer BPR + NPR

## Background

Kira Bursky, originally from Upper Nyack, NY, attended Asheville High School's School of Inquiry and Life Sciences program for one year and Evergreen Community Charter School for middle school. She also attended the Carolina Film Institute for one year at age 13.
She later attended high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan as a Motion Picture Arts major, graduating in 2014. She worked at documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock's New York-based film production company, Warrior Poets, as a post-production intern.

## Awards

Her works have been featured and awarded prizes at over 100 domestic and international film festivals including the All-American High School Film Festival, the Chicago International Children's Film Festival, the Colchester International Film Festival, Guam International Film Festival, the White House Student Film Festival, Princeton Student Film Festival, and the Cannes Film Festival.
| Year | Result | Festival | Award | Work |
| 2014 | Winner | Mosaic Film Festival | Best Overall | Girly |
| 2014 | Winner | Lovett School High School Film Fest | Best U.S Narrative | Girly |
| 2015 | Winner | Made-in-Michigan Film Festival | Best Academic Film | Girly |
| 2014 | Winner | Lovett School High School Film Fest | Best U.S. Animation | What Are You? |
| 2014 | Winner | Mosaic Film Festival | Best Overall | We're Okay |
| 2014 | Winner | All American High School Film Festival | Best Overall Film | We're Okay |
| 2015 | Winner | National Film Festival For Talented Youth | Best Emerging Female Filmmaker | We're Okay |
| 2014 | Winner | Highway 61 | Best Student - 2nd Place | We're Okay |
| 2016 | Winner | Horror Hour | Best Horror High School Short Film | We're Okay |
| 2016 | Winner | Ramūno Ateljė Independent International Film Awards | Best Teenager Film | Really Looking |
| 2015 | Winner | 24 Hour Film Racing | Best Editing & Best Sound Design | It's Just You |
| 2016 | Winner | George Lindsey UNA Film Festival | Best Youth Filmmaker | Tree Hugger |
| 2015 | Winner | Laguna Film Festival | Jury Award for Best Youth Film + Audience Award for Best Youth Film | Tree Hugger |
| 2016 | Winner | Festival Internacional de Cine y Audiovisual Infantil y Juvenil | Best Film in +13 Audio Visual | Tree Hugger |
| 2015 | Winner | StarLite Film Festival | Best Domestic Student Short | Demons in Disguise |
| 2016 | Winner | Little Elephant | Best Maxi 2 | Demons in Disguise |
| 2014 | Winner | White House Student Film Festival | Finalist | Hello From Malaysia |
| 2014 | Winner | MY HERO International Film Festival | Best High School Narrative - 2nd Place | Hello From Malaysia |
| 2015 | Winner | Lovett School High School Film Fest | Best U.S. Animation | Warm Rush |
| 2014 | Winner | Josiah Media Festival | Best Experimental - 2nd Place | Warm Rush |
| 2015 | Winner | Brighton Youth Film Festival | Best International Short Film | Hattie |
| 2015 | Winner | Seattle Horror 48 Hour Film Project | Best Film | Adulthood |
| 2016 | Winner | Huntsville 48 Hour Film Project | Best Film | Footplant |
| 2017 | Winner | Music Video Asheville | Best Music Video + Best Editing | Dancing Children |
| 2017 | Winner | FilmSPARK | Best Kids and Family Film | Dancing Children |
| 2017 | Winner | Music Video Asheville | Best Visual Design | We Are the People |
| 2017 | Winner | 100 Words Film Festival | Best Scripted Film | Fake Emma |
| 2017 | Winner | North Carolina Family Film Festival 2017 | Best NC Short | To and From |
| 2017 | Winner | Grenada Afterglow Film Festival | Best AfterTHOUGHT | To and From |
| 2018 | Winner | Asheville 48 Hour Film Project | Best Film | She Once Was Distant |
| 2018 | Winner | New Orleans 48 Hour Film Project | Best Film Runner Up | Demon Pills |
| 2018 | Winner | Music Video Asheville | Best Visual Design | You Help Me Fall Asleep |
| 2017 | Winner | All-American High School Film Festival | Best College Doc | Close to the Window |
| 2018 | Winner | Planet Why's YUP Selected | Audience Choice Award | Close to the Window |
| 2018 | Winner | FilmPlaya | Golden Pocket Pistol | Period. |
| 2018 | Winner | Berlin Liberi Film Festival | Best in Fest | Period. |
| 2019 | Winner | Jim Thorpe Independent Film Festival | Best Experimental Film | Period. |
| 2019 | Winner | Music Video Asheville | Best Music Video + Best Editing | Carolina Stomp |

## Featured works

* Wild Flowers (2016) - 10 million+ views on YouTube
* Tree Hugger (2015) - 4 million+ views on YouTube
* Adulthood (2015) - 1 million+ views on YouTube
* Period. (2019)
* We're Okay (2014)
* Closet Made of Sheets (2017)
* Demon Pills (2017)
* To and From (2016)
* Really Looking (2016)
* She Once Was Distant (2018)
* Fake Emma (2018)
* Girly (2013)
* Foreshadow (2019)