SHIVA BABY
Film - Spotlight Filmfest 2021

SHIVA BABY

Directed by Emma Seligman

Info

Director: Emma Seligman
Section: Spotlight
Country: USA
Year: 2020
BT: SHIVA BABY / FINE
Language: English
Version: Original version
Cast: Rachel Sennott, Dianna Agron, Molly Gordon, Danny Deferrari, Polly Draper
18+ (no age rating)

Also in this program

Logline

A masterful Jewish cringe comedy about generational conflict, religion, and sexual self-determination.

By their very nature, funeral services are rarely a pleasant affair. For a young student named Danielle, however, this doesn’t have anything to do with the death of a person she hardly knew, nor the insincere or disinterested small talk of the mourners. Indeed, even the eternal nagging of her liberal Jewish parents and the presence of her ex-girlfriend are things that she could just about deal with. It’s when her secret sugar daddy shows up unexpectedly with his wife and kid that a series of awkward and incredibly funny events are set in motion in which Danielle’s discomfort becomes almost physically palpable. Danielle, the maladjusted millennial who can’t live without family and community after all, is sure to win the audience’s sympathy.


You'll find a Q&A with SHIVA BABY director Emma Seligman here.


You can buy tickets for the screening at the associated cinema City/Atelier Kinos here.

Meet the director

SHIVA BABY

Emma Seligman

Canadian writer-director Emma Seligman graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she made several short films, in 2017. Her eight-minute graduation film, SHIVA BABY, premiered at the 2018 South by Southwest film festival to critical acclaim. Based on the short film, Seligman developed her feature-length debut of the same name.

Credits

Screenplay: Emma Seligman
Director of Photography: Maria Rusche
Film Editor: Hanna Park
Composer: Ariel Marx
Production Designer: Cheyenne Ford
Costume Design: Michelle J. Li
Producer: Lizzie Shapiro, Katie Schiller
Production Company: Dimbo Pictures, It Doesn't Suck
Co-Producer: Kieran Altmann
Co-Production Company: Thick Media, Bad Mensch
World Sales: MUBI