Nigel Buesst

Nigel Buesst (30 April 1938 – 27 December 2024) was an Australian filmmaker from Melbourne.^[1] After graduating B.Com in 1960 from Melbourne University he headed overseas to London and worked as an assistant editor at Shepparton Studios.^[2]

On returning to Melbourne in 1962 he worked for some months at the ABC's Ripponlea newsroom,^[1] and freelanced as a cameraman on various productions. He also started directing his own films, beginning with “Fun Radio” in 1963.

After the success of his film "Rise and Fall of Squizzy Taylor" ^[3] he began teaching at the Swinburne University of Technology (1970-1984) ^[2] while continuing to make films on a diverse range of subjects.

He was also a co-founder and the artistic director of the St Kilda Film Festival from 1986 to 1990.^[4]

Buesst has been described as "a living legend of Melbourne's film scene" ^[5] and was a figure in the "Carlton wave" of Australian filmmaking.^[6] He died in December 2024, at the age of 86.^[7]

Select credits

Director on all titles, unless otherwise noted.

• Fun Radio (1963)
• Dancing Class (Dir: Tom Cowan 1964) – photography
• The Twentieth (1966)
• The Making of a Gallery, NGV (1967) – photography
• The Rise and Fall of Squizzy Taylor (1969)
• Nothing Like Experience (1970) – photography
• Bonjour Balwyn (1970)
• Dead Easy (1970)
• Destruction of St Patrick's College (1971)
• Come Out Fighting (1973)
• Jacka VC (Dir: Ross Cooper 1977) – photography
• Glenn's Story (Dir: Arnold Zable 1979) – photography
• Jazz Scrapbook (1983) ^[8]
• Compo (1989)
• Benny Featherstone (Prince Good Fellows) (1996) ^[9]
• Black Sheep Gather No Moss (1997)
• The Loved One - Gerry Humphrys (2000)
• Talking With Ade (2000) ^[10]
• Carlton + Godard = Cinema (2003) ^[11]
• Darwin Harbour (2010)
• Ballarat Jazz Convention (2015)
• Point Lonsdale Plaque Unveiling (2018) – editor