Gary Burns' cinematic gifts were established with his first feature, The Suburbanators, which met with immediate praise from critics and public alike at its premiere at the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The Toronto film critics placed the film among the Best Canadian films of 1996, naming Burns as one of the year's Top-10 Canadian directors and screenwriters. The Suburbanators introduced an original new Canadian filmmaker with a keen eye for strange and compelling permutations in contemporary culture.

Burns returned to suburban terrain with his second feature, 1997's Kitchen Party. It also premiered at TIFF where once again Burns met with critical acclaim. The New York Times called Kitchen Party "the funniest, nastiest, comedy of manners to come down the pike in months" when it was screened at New York's Museum of Modern Art as part of New Directors New Films.

Moving from strength to strength, Burns' third feature film was waydowntown, which won the Toronto-City Award for "Best Canadian Feature Film" at TIFF in 2000; it was also named the "Best Canadian Film of 2000" by the Toronto Film Critics Association. It went on to win "Best Canadian Feature" at the Atlantic Film Festival, and the "Most Popular Canadian Film" and "Best Screenplay" at the Vancouver International Film Festival. The National Post hailed it as "a deadpan, almost pitch-perfect comedy," and The Village Voice called it "a palliative pharmaceutical rush!"

Burns returned to TIFF in 2003 when A Problem with Fear opened the Perspective Canada program. The film also opened the Panorama Special program at the 2004 Berlinale.

Radiant City, winner of the 2007 Genie for "Best Documentary," was Burns' first feature-length documentary, which he co-wrote/directed with journalist Jim Brown. The film, produced by Burns Film Ltd in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), explores suburban sprawl through the experience of one family negotiating the complexities of contemporary North American suburbia. Radiant City won "Special Jury Prize" at the 2006 Vancouver International Film Festival, and the Toronto International Film Festival named it one of Canada's Top-10 films of the year. Radiant City was selected as one of Canada's "Best Features" by the Toronto Film Critic's Association in 2007.

 Burns' new feature The Future is Now! is his second collaboration with co-writer/director Jim Brown, and is produced by Burns Film Ltd. in co-production with the NFB.