DIRECTOR: Emma Seligman
PRODUCERS: Kieran Altmann, Katie Schiller, Lizzie Shapiro
PRODUCTION CO: Dimbo Pictures, Irving Harvey, It Doesn't Suck Productions, Neon Heart Productions, Thick Media Co
SCREENPLAY: Emma Seligman
PHOTOGRAPHY: Maria Rusche
EDITOR: Hanna A Park
MUSIC: Ariel Marx
WITH: Rachel Sennott (Danielle), Molly Gordon (Maya), Danny Deferrari (Max), Polly Draper (Debbie), Fred Melamed (Joel), Dianna Agron (Kim Beckett), Jackie Hoffman (Susan), Cilda Shaur  (Sheila)

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FESTIVALS: South by Southwest, Toronto

REVIEW

“Shiva Baby is a relentless comedy of errors that opens with the sort of discordant string music one would ordinarily expect from a horror film – and it soon becomes abundantly clear why.

Danielle (Rachel Sennott) is in a personal and professional rut, made worse by the attendees of a family shiva who relitigate her relationship status, her diminishing weight and her limited career prospects with almost religious fervour. As if a victim of karmic retribution, Danielle is ambushed when her over-achieving ex-girlfriend and secret sugar daddy enter the fray, resulting in a perfect storm of hilarity and cloying, claustrophobic humiliation.

Adapted from her 2018 short film of the same name, Seligman savours each uncomfortable moment in Shiva Baby, documenting the carnage that erupts as Danielle’s vastly different personas collide. Refusing to let the audience observe the embarrassment at arm’s length, Seligman’s direction insists her viewers get up close and personal, tightly focusing our attention on Danielle as things begin to unravel.

​At times, it feels like a battle of wills as we wait to see whose resolve will crack first — Danielle’s or our own — but moments of humour and humanity are a perfect balm for the string of misadventures you’ll be grateful to experience secondhand.

With a wonderful performance from Rachel Sennott at its heart, Shiva Baby will immediately draw you in and hold fast.”

– Samantha Gianotti, Whanau Marama, NZIFF 2021

FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

Carterton
Friday, 23 February, 7.00pm

Westport
Tuesday, 12 March, time tba

Wellington  
Monday, 25 March, 6.15pm

Nelson 
Wednesday, 03 April, 6.00pm

​Dunedin 
Wednesday, 08 May 7.30pm

​Palmerston North
Wednesday, 22 May, 6.00pm

Hamilton
Monday, 10 June, 6.30pm

​Auckland  
Monday, 17 June, 6.15pm

Tauranga  
Wednesday, 26 June, 6.00pm

​Queenstown 
Tuesday, 13 August, 8.00pm

​Canterbury  
Monday, 14 October, 7.00pm

Whanganui   
Monday, 11 November, 7.00pm

New Plymouth  
Wednesday, 20 November, 6.00pm​
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