Emma Seligman

Emma Seligman is a Canadian[1][2] film director and screenwriter, best known for her feature directorial debut Shiva Baby (2020).

Seligman speaks to the Boston Jewish Film Festival in 2020.

Career

As a teenager, Emma Seligman contributed film reviews to The Huffington Post.[3] She studied film at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in May 2017, and is based in New York City.[1][2] While at NYU she made short films including Lonewoods and 2018's Void and Shiva Baby. Her thesis film, Shiva Baby went to the 2018 South by Southwest film festival. At the same time, she began developing it into a feature film, the 2020 release Shiva Baby. Seligman's films focus on sexual themes, particularly the relationship between women and sex, with the director saying that "women decode sexual messaging from a young age, [and] technology, for example with porn or dating sites, has made the sexual messaging more confusing, and [she's] interested in how women figure it out."[1]

She has discussed her filmmaking process as a very collaborative experience, though she spends a lot of time on writing, and enjoys being able to discuss their work with her actors.[1]

As a screenwriter and director, Seligman has received acclaim for feature film Shiva Baby. It premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). In the critics poll of the TIFF line-up, it placed second for Best Screenplay behind One Night in Miami.[4] Critics have commended it as a debut, with Kristy Puchko of The Playlist writing that "it's astounding this is Seligman's first film, [considering] how masterfully she orchestrates the tension and comedy",[5] and Dana Piccoli for Queer Media Matters praising that "while Seligman is still a relative newcomer to the film world, she handles Shiva Baby like an experienced pro".[6] It was nominated for the Jordan Ressler First Feature Award at the Miami International Film Festival,[7] won Best Screenplay at Outfest[8] and earned Seligman a place on the Variety / Mill Valley Film Festival 10 Screenwriters to Watch list.[9][10]

See also

References
  1. "Interview with Emma Seligman". FEMFILMFANS. Retrieved 2020-11-21.
  2. Mikel, Ryan. "Tisch Alumna Talks Sugar Babies, Shivas and SXSW". Washington Square News. Retrieved 2020-11-21.
  3. Seligman, Emma (September 18, 2012). "REVIEW: 'Spring Breakers'". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on January 7, 2017.
  4. Blauvelt, Christian; Kohn, Eric (2020-09-21). "TIFF 2020 Report Card: Critics Rank the Best Films and Performances". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 2020-09-24. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  5. Puchko, Kristy (March 25, 2020). "'Shiva Baby' Delivers A Hilarious Symphony Of Tension And Humiliation-Based Comedy [Review]". theplaylist.net. Archived from the original on 2020-06-16. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
  6. Piccoli, Dana (2020-08-26). "Outfest 2020: A young bisexual woman confronts her past and present in the very funny, "Shiva Baby"". Queer Media Matters. Archived from the original on 2020-09-24. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  7. Miami Film Festival (2020). "SHIVA BABY". Archived from the original on 2020-10-06. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
    Miami Film Festival (2020). "Jordan Ressler First Feature Award". Archived from the original on 2020-09-18. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
  8. Kleinmann, James (2020-09-11). "TIFF 2020 Film Review: Shiva Baby ★★★★★". The Queer Review. Archived from the original on 2020-09-24. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
  9. MVFF (2020). "BEHIND THE SCREENS – Mill Valley Film Festival". Archived from the original on 2020-10-19. Retrieved 2020-10-24.
  10. Countryman, Eli (2020-09-24). "Variety Announces 10 Screenwriters to Watch for 2020". Variety. Archived from the original on November 6, 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
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