MEET DIRECTOR XAVIER BURGIN

Xavier Burgin attended The University of Alabama before being accepted into USC’s School of Cinematic Arts for TV & Film Production. He nurtured his creative process there, discovering a love for writing and directing. Xavier is the Director of Shudder’s first original documentary, Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. He’s also a Sundance Lab Fellow, an HBO Finalist, a Ryan Murphy Television Half Foundation alumni, a semifinalist for the Student Academy Awards, and a director on the Emmy nominated series, Giants.

Xavier’s feature documentary, Horror Noire, expounds on the history of Black Americans in horror cinema. The film, currently streaming on Shudder, has been covered by the A.V. Club, The Hollywood Reporter, The Guardian, Slash Film, The Verge, Entertainment Weekly, and more. It was featured in an educational screening hosted by The Toronto International Film Festival. It includes interviews from Jordan Peele, Keith David, Tony Todd, Rachel True, Paula Jai Parker, Richard Lawson, and more prominent actors, filmmakers, and scholars in the horror genre. It currently holds a “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Xavier directed Episode 204: Lights Out and Episode 207: Okay In the Silence, of the Emmy nominated series, Giants, currently on Issa Rae’s Color Creative. The series has been picked up for television via TV One.

Xavier is a fellow of The Sundance Institute’s YouTube New Voices Lab where his series, Late Registration, was selected. Xavier shadowed on the set of American Horror Story as a member of the RMTV Half Foundation, a diversity mentorship program created by Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story, Scream Queens). Xavier has also been a semi-finalist for ABC|Disney’s Directing and Writer Programs, Sony’s Diverse Director’s Program, and Viacom’s Emerging Directors Program.

Xavier’s feature script, On Time, has won The Screencraft Drama Competition and The Film Empire Diversity Screenplay competition. It was a finalist in the Hollywood Talent Summit Screenplay competition and a quarterfinalist in the Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay competition.

On Time, Xavier’s proof of concept for his feature script of the same name, is an HBO short film finalist, Audience Award Social Political Film Festival Jury Winner, netted him a Best Director award at Sunscreen Film Festival West, and won Best Actress at Poland’s Grand Off Film Festival. It premiered on HBO and has been seen on Cinemax and Spectrum. Olde E, his thesis film, was a semi-finalist for the 43rd Student Academy Awards and chosen for Ryan Murphy’s Director’s showcase. Other, his film about Black America’s two voices, has been featured on Shadow & Act, Bossip, and Colorlines.

Xavier has also amassed a following of over 70,000 plus followers on twitter through his long form stories, landing him features on sites such as NPR, Buzzfeed, Complex, Global Grind, and more.

Xavier has worked with Kevin Hart’s LOL Network, AMC, Shudder, Baron Davis’ No Label, Stage 3 Productions, Bazelevs (Wanted, Unfriended), Blavity, Riveting Entertainment, Google, Lenovo, Coca-Cola, The Distinguished Filmmakers’ Network, and Oscar Mayer as a director, writer, cinematographer, and/or writer.

Xavier strives to bring an emotionally, powerful aesthetic through drama, and a pleasantly gut-aching, hilarity through comedy. Above all else, he currently works towards building an artistic resume highlighting his unique, and progressive sensibilities.