About Hansen

 Hansen Bursic (he/him) is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, journalist and film festival programmer. An activist as much as an artist, his work is focused on stories that matter, told ethically both behind and in front of the camera.

Growing up outside of Pittsburgh, he broke into the nonfiction space directing documentaries in rural Pennsylvania with local advocacy nonprofits battling some of the first anti-transgender legislation and school policy targeting youth in the state. There he directed his first award-winning documentary, The Toothmans, which screened internationally at festivals including Frameline and won awards from the Lancaster International Short Film Festival and The Foundation for The Contemporary Family. His work culminated in leading a media campaign and directing several documentaries for Pennsylvania Values, an advocacy campaign to add sexuality, gender identity, and expression to Pennsylvania’s state nondiscrimination protections.

Bursic now lives between Pittsburgh and Los Angeles running Hansen Bursic Film. He was recently named a DOC NYC Documentary New Leader. He was previously a Ford Foundation Rockwood Documentary Leadership Fellow, a Sundance Film Festival Press Fellow, and a Temple University 30 Under 30. His latest film, Trans Heaven, Pennsylvania, was funded through the Creative Hope Initiative, an incubator for emerging LGBTQ+ filmmakers sponsored by Traverse32 and Outfest. The film has screened around the world, including Frameline and BFI Flare, and won Best Short Documentary at ReelQ: Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ+ Film Festival.

Beyond filmmaking, he currently serves as the Festival Director of the Backyard Docs Film Festival, the largest documentary film festival in Pennsylvania. He is also an award-winning journalist and film critic with bylines in Documentary magazine, cinéSPEAK and INTO. He serves as the Board Co-President of the NLGJA: LGBTQ+ Journalism Association’s Los Angeles Chapter and is a member of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ+ Entertainment Critics.