Emma Seligman

Emma Seligman is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. Seligman is best known for directing the comedy films Shiva Baby (2020) and Bottoms (2023). Early life and education Seligman attended Northern Secondary School in Toronto. She grew up watching At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper wanting to "be Roger Ebert." As a teenager, Seligman ran a now-defunct blog called Confessions of a Teenage Film Buff and contributed film reviews to The Huffington Post. She studied film at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in May 2017. Career While at NYU, she made short films including Lonewoods, Void and her senior thesis film, Shiva Baby. During this time, Seligman also interned at a variety of production studios. They also served on the Toronto International Film Festival's select youth committee, where she helped program films for the festival. Her thesis film, Shiva Baby, was selected for 2018 South by Southwest film festival. At the encouragement of the short film's star, Rachel Sennott, whom she befriended during the audition process, Seligman began developing it into a feature, where Sennott would reprise her lead role. The feature-length version of Shiva Baby was set to premiere at 2020 South by Southwest, but the premiere was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film eventually premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.