Xavier Neal Burgin
Xavier Neal Burgin is a Los Angeles based filmmaker with roots in rural Mississippi and Birmingham, Alabama. A presidential scholarship to the University of Alabama started his education and career, and graduate school brought him back to the West Coast and the University of Southern California where he directed 'Olde E' under USC's School of Cinematic Arts.
'Olde E' just won the BEA Best of Festival King Foundation Award and in the Director's Statement for 'Olde E', Xavier quotes writer Tiara Marshall,
“I remember hearing the story of Benji. He was supposed to be the next Jordan, but was shot and killed over a verbal altercation. I never forgot that story. I decided to write a biopic, but I wanted to tell the story of a young kid dealt the worst possible hand, yet pushes to survive. So Olde E became a tribute to all the Benji’s out there.”
Xavier's other work has screened at the Cannes Short Film Corner, Troy International, the San Diego Black Film Fest, and his unique long-form Twitter stories have been featured on the Thought Catalog, Clutch Magazine, Complex, Vibe Magazine, Imgur, Laugh Out Loud, Complex, BuzzFeed and many others. His most recent Twitter novella is 'Tina and the Gucci Flip-Flop', a hilarious 82 tweet-long story of finding love, losing love with a lot of suspense, drama and action in between.
The inspiration behind much of Xavier's work seems to stem from real-life -- for example, his soon to be released short film, 'On Time' tells a heart-rending story of a homeless mother risking everything to make a better life for her daughter. This sensitive subject is handled with such realism that it lingers long after watching it - like any great film it reveals a human struggle, one that can be misconstrued and taken for granted every day, and that reminder hits hard.
'On Time' is a short form adaption of the feature length script 'Rough Around the Edges' written by Xavier and Tiara Marshall. The script made it to the first round of the Sundance Screenwriter's Lab. We can't wait to see this story unfold into a feature length film.
Xavier's scope is impressive, with work ranging from highly-emotional narratives to charming and lighthearted comedies. Yet, what stood out the most to us in watching his past work, was his ability to create stories that divide not (necessarily) the audience, but specifically the viewer on an emotional level, his films don't leave you a choice but to understand and often empathizing with both sides of a complicated situation.
The Bureau is so thrilled to have Xavier on our roster of first year filmmakers, we can't wait to share with you what he has in the works for his short film. We don't want to give away too much just yet, but we can say it's going to be a funny one.
You should follow Xavier on twitter,@XLNB, and also like his Facebook page to keep up with all of his amazing projects.
