Shiva Baby: SXSW short a Vimeo Staff Pick

Rachel Sennott as Danielle in SHIVA BABY.

Emma Seligman’s Shiva Baby, a short film that premiered during the 2018 SXSW Film Festival, is now a Vimeo Staff Pick.

Emma Seligman’s short film is one of the funniest films I’ve ever seen to be set during a shiva.  This even takes the film adaptation of This Is Where I Leave You into account.  Rachel Sennott stars as Danielle, a college student who has hooked up with a sugar daddy.  It’s a great performance for the comedian despite being a short film.  Danielle runs into him at a shiva and not surprisingly, a ton of chaos shortly ensues.  The situation as a whole is one that just asks for comedy fodder and Seligman delivers in that regard.

I love what Seligman did with the film.  Among the narrative shorts, it’s one of my favorites to premiere this year.  Having spoken with Emma the other day, I can’t wait to see what the feature version of the film looks like.  If this film is any indication, she’ll have a bright and promising future as a director.

Seligman previously spoke with Solzy at the Movies prior to the start of SXSW.

Shiva Baby from Emma Seligman on Vimeo.

Danielle Solzman

Danielle Solzman is native of Louisville, KY, and holds a BA in Public Relations from Northern Kentucky University and a MA in Media Communications from Webster University. She roots for her beloved Kentucky Wildcats, St. Louis Cardinals, Indianapolis Colts, and Boston Celtics. Living less than a mile away from Wrigley Field in Chicago, she is an active reader (sports/entertainment/history/biographies/select fiction) and involved with the Chicago improv scene. She also sees many movies and reviews them. She has previously written for Redbird Rants, Wildcat Blue Nation, and Hidden Remote/Flicksided. From April 2016 through May 2017, her film reviews can be found on Creators.

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