Dustin Curtis Murphy is an award-winning writer, director, and producer creating work at the crossroads of social impact and commercial crowd-pleasers. His work focuses on character driven narratives with relevant social themes and tightly structured plots, often working in blended genre. Loves a good twist.

Dustin has produced 2 web-series, 1 feature film, and 9 short films that have been recognized by Academy Award, BAFTA, and BIFA qualifying film festivals.

Filmography highlights include:

• COYOTE - a dystopian sci-fi starring Therica Wilson-Read (Netflix's The Witcher) and BIFA Winner Ruhtxjiaïh Bèllènéa (The Last Tree) which won the Grand Prize for Best Sci-Fi Feature at VORTEX, the genre sidebar of the Academy Award Qualifying Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival. It also won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the Romford Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Feature Film at the National Film Awards.

• SAMARITAN - Selected for the Climate Story Lab run by Exposure Labs, BFI Network and Doc Society. Winner: Best International Short at the Sedona International Film Festival and the Grand Prize at The Weather Channel's #EarthFilmChallenge. Distributed via Omeleto.

• FILTHY ANIMALS - Shortlisted for Raindance's #OneMinuteTwist Competition.

• NORA - Premiered at BFI IMAX as the centrepiece of a TEDx event and won 19 awards on the festival circuit, including 2 for best director.

• REPOSESSED - Best Student Short at Shriekfest, Hollywood.

Dustin has been living in the UK since 2017. As the CEO of Kino Short Film, Dustin is an advocate for indie filmmakers and also the festival director for the BIFA qualifying Kino London Short Film Festival.

screened at 80+ festivals

Biography

DUSTIN CURTIS MURPHY - Born and raised in southern California, Dustin’s first creative outlet was as a child stage-actor, winning an award from the Inland Empire Theatre league for his portrayal of the title role in Lifehouse Theater’s musical production of Tom Sawyer.

At the age of 13, Murphy began to study film and video production. He started competing in the festival circuit at the age of 15. His student project highlights include: King of Swing, an ambitious 70 minute period musical utilising talent from a local youth theater group. The film played two sold out performances in a 700 seat school auditorium. Repossessed won Best Student Short at Shriekfest, Hollywood.

After graduating High School, Dustin took a gap year to focus on screenwriting. It was at this time his feature length screenplay Cherry Bomb was optioned by Joel Castleberg (producer of Noah Baumbach's first three films). With a career already in motion, Murphy opted to learn by doing vs sitting in a classroom. He volunteered at the Breckenridge International Film Festival which lead him to a job as a production assistant at the Star Entertainment Group - run by voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - an experience that gained him exposure to A-list Hollywood talent and a seat to attend the 2007 Oscar ceremony where he was able to meet some of his filmmaking heroes including Martin Scorsese, Edward Zwick, and more. 

Murphy’s first major undertaking was adapting his stage show Happy Hour Sketch Comedy into a webseries, financed via crowdfunding. After 4 seasons, Murphy shifted focus in 2016 to a series of dramatic shorts that leaned toward social impact. Highlights from this period include Without Regret and Avery Road - both of which were released on Amazon Prime after their festival runs.

In 2017, Murphy moved to London. His first UK production was Nora which premiered at part of TEDxNHS at the BFI IMAX in August 2018. The film then went on to be his biggest festival hit up until that point winning 18 awards at 12 festivals, including two for Best Director.

In 2018, Murphy stepped up as the key organiser of Kino London - a short filmmakers collective of 1500+ members. Continuing with the organisations legacy of supporting independent filmmakers with their Short Film Open Mic, Murphy expanded Kino’s reach to include the BIFA qualifying Kino London Short Film Festival and an online distribution platform for shorts. Also in 2018, Murphy returned to comedy with his short film Bottomless which won 3 awards, and received an additional 8 nominations and 17 Official Selections.

In 2020, Murphy released two short films - The Last Confession and Samaritan - the latter of which was selected for the Climate Story Lab run by Exposure Labs, BFI Network and Doc Society. In 2021, Samaritan won Best International Short at the Sedona International Film Festival and the Grand Prize at The Weather Channel's #EarthFilmChallenge. Both shorts were picked up by Omeleto for distribution.

In 2021, Murphy created the one minute micro-short Filthy Animals which was shortlisted for Raindance’s #OneMintueTwist competition.

In 2022, Murphy released the short film Mama’s Watching, which played at the Atlanta Horror Film Festival, Horror Haus Film Festival, Wreak Havoc Horror Film Festival, and won second place in the AudPop Horror Film Challenge. Additionally, he Executive Produced two short films via Kino Short Film - Hidden Insight and Do Not Touch nominated for Best Comedy Short at the BIFA qualifying Crystal Palace International Film Festival.

In 2023, he released his first project on 16mm film, Everything Is Out to Get Me, which is still on the festival circuit having played at 15 festivals thus far including 6 BIFA Qualifiers. It was nominated for Best Cinematography at the British Short Film Awards.

Additional he released his debut feature, Coyote, which premiered at the Phoenix Film Festival in March 2023 and went on to win the Grand Prize for Best Sci-Fi Feature at VORTEX, the genre sidebar of the Academy Award Qualifying Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival later that year. It also won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the Romford Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Feature Film at the National Film Awards. Thus far the film has been released in the US and Canada, with a UK and Polish release coming soon.

Murphy currently has five feature films in development, including a feature version of Samaritan and Everything Is Out to Get Me.

Below is a collection of high school student films for posterity’s sake. Rather than hide my rough early work, I leave it here as a message to others - pick up a camera and make a film. The only way you’ll get better is with practice.

Welcome To Pleasant Acres

Best Cinematography (High Desert Student Film Festival 2003)

Best Editing (High Desert Student Film Festival 2003)

In this Twilight Zone inspired short, a mysterious man with a devious past purchases his dream house, but little does he know that his past sins are about to catch up with him.