Hansen Bursic

Hansen Bursic is an award-winning filmmaker, journalist, and film festival programmer based between Los Angeles, CA, and Pittsburgh, PA. Bursic’s debut documentary "The Toothmans", which told the story of a trans teenager and her family living in rural Pennsylvania, screened internationally at festivals including Frameline and won several awards, including a Best Documentary Award from the Lancaster International Short Film Festival. Following the film's success, Bursic was tasked with directing several short documentaries for Pennsylvania Values, a political advocacy campaign to add sexuality, gender identity, and expression to Pennsylvania’s state nondiscrimination protections. Bursic was recently named one of Temple University’s 30 Under 30 and one of the Ford Foundation-backed Rockwood Documentary Leadership fellows. He was also named one of Outfest and Traverse32’s Creative Hope Initiative fellows, a new incubator for LGBTQ+ filmmakers that supported his latest short documentary "Trans Heaven, Pennsylvania". The film, which tells the story of a legendary party that saw 100s of trans women take over a small town in Pennsylvania each year, is set to be released Summer of 2024.