Acclaimed filmmaker Kasimir Burgess sets out to create a biopic about his father, Greg Burgess, one of Australia’s most influential and celebrated architects and recipient of the Australian Institute of Architects Gold Medal. Renowned for his luminous, community-driven buildings shaped by environmental sensitivity, Indigenous collaboration and spiritual geometry, Greg’s work redefined the relationship between architecture, landscape and spirit in Australia. But as filming progresses, Greg begins experiencing episodes of Transient Global Amnesia — sudden lapses that leave him untethered, his once-vivid memories dissolving into confusion — and the film itself begins to shift. What starts as a portrait of legacy becomes an intimate meditation on memory, authorship and loss, as father and son question whether to continue documenting a mind in retreat. When Greg expresses a desire to return to his buildings, they embark on a pilgrimage through nine of his most significant works — from the Brambuk Living Cultural Centre in Gariwerd to the Uluru–Kata Tjuṯa Cultural Centre and, finally, to the modest house in Box Hill where Greg was born. As his memory falters, the buildings seem to hold what he no longer can — fragments of friendship, grief, devotion and love — while archival footage of childhood and of Greg nursing Kasimir’s mother through her final illness reveals that his most profound architecture may not be made of timber or stone, but of care. In tracing the fragile architecture of his father’s mind, Kasimir searches for continuity — and for what can endure when memory does not.
Originally trained as a sculptor, Kasimir Burgess is an award-winning Australian filmmaker whose work spans drama and documentary, marked by a poetic visual style and intimate engagement with landscape and character.
His early short films garnered international recognition, including the Crystal Bear at Berlin (Lily) and Film of the Festival at Raindance (Booth Story). His debut narrative feature Fell was acclaimed by The Hollywood Reporter and Screen Daily. His AACTA- and Walkley-nominated documentary Franklin became the longest-running Australian documentary theatrical release of 2022.
His most recent feature, Iron Winter — a coming-of-age story set amid the stark beauty of the Mongolian winter — premiered in International Competition at Visions du Réel and has since won the Grand Prize at Banff Mountain Film Festival, the Golden Frog at CamerImage, and multiple additional awards.
