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Emma Seligman
Emma Seligman
Emma Seligman
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Emma Seligman (born May 3, 1995) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. She[a] is best known for the films Shiva Baby (2020) and Bottoms (2023).

Key Information

Early life and education

[edit]

Seligman was born on May 3, 1995, in Toronto, Ontario, to a Jewish family.[1] She was raised in a Reform Ashkenazi community in Toronto and attended Northern Secondary School there. Her bat mitzvah ceremony was held on Masada in Israel; the party that followed, held in 2008, was filmmaker-themed.[1][2] She grew up watching At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper wanting to "be Roger Ebert."[3] As a teenager, Seligman ran a now-defunct blog called Confessions of a Teenage Film Buff and contributed film reviews to The Huffington Post,[4][5] including a review for Spring Breakers, which she wrote at seventeen years old.[1] She studied film at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in May 2017.[6][7] Seligman remained in New York after graduating and interned with the production company Animal Kingdom.[8]

Career

[edit]

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. She also served on the Toronto International Film Festival's select youth committee, where she helped program films for the festival.[9][10]

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.[11][12] It was Sennott's unique style of comedy and knack for uncomfortable humor that transformed Shiva Baby into more of a comedy than the original short film's intense dramedy approach.[13] Seligman also cited inspiration from the horror and thriller genres that helped to form the film's "claustrophobic look."[14] 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.[15] The film eventually premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.[16]

Shiva Baby was met with critical acclaim. Kristy Puchko of The Playlist wrote, "It's astounding this is Seligman's first film, [considering] how masterfully she orchestrates the tension and comedy,"[17] and Dana Piccoli for Queer Media Matters praised that "while Seligman is still a relative newcomer to the film world, she handles Shiva Baby like an experienced pro."[18] In 2022, the film won the John Cassavetes Award from Film Independent, at the time designated for productions with budgets of $500,000 or less.[b][19] In an interview with The Upcoming in 2021 after the film's release, Seligman expressed her desire to continue to create complicated female characters and narratives, beyond the confines of being viewed as "messy," just as there are a plethora of complicated male characters on screen who are not given this designation.[13]

Seligman reunited with Rachel Sennott for her second feature film, Bottoms, a teen sex comedy in which two high school lesbians start a fight club in order to attract their cheerleader crushes. Seligman had the idea for the film while still at NYU, and began working on it with Sennott there.[15] She says she was inspired by her love for teen romantic comedies and sex comedies, while wanting to combine those elements with those of a superhero film or buddy comedy.[20] Bottoms was scored by English singer-songwriter Charli XCX.[21] To promote Bottoms, Seligman appeared on the cover of New York Magazine with the films' stars Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri. The film headlined the SXSW film festival on March 11, 2023.[22] Aisha Harris of NPR praised the film writing, "Sennott and Seligman strike both a sweet and an abrasive tone that's tricky to pull off, though they do so quite handily."[23] Seligman's inspiration for the film came from high-school comedies such as Bring It On, Mean Girls, and Grease.[21]

Seligman's work often focuses on sexual themes, particularly women's relationship to sex. Regarding this choice, she has stated:

Women decode sexual messaging from a young age, from eight years old to twenty-two years old. They have to process what sex means, what it can do for them, what it should do for them, what they're supposed to do for it. Technology, for example with porn or dating sites, has made the sexual messaging more confusing, and I'm interested in how women figure it out.[6]

She has stated that her filmmaking process as a very collaborative experience, and enjoys being able to discuss her work with her actors.[6]

As Seligman's career continues, she stated that she wants to continue making "weird" queer and Jewish stories on an increasingly larger scale.[20]

Personal life

[edit]

Seligman uses both "she/her" and "they/them" pronouns. She formerly identified as bisexual, but as of 2023 considers herself "just gay".[24] Seligman briefly moved to Los Angeles in 2021, but resides in Bushwick as of 2023.[25][15]

Seligman has expressed support for Palestinians in the face of Israeli occupation.[26][27]

Her favorite Jewish movies are Yentl, Keeping the Faith, Fiddler on the Roof, Kissing Jessica Stein, Crossing Delancey and A Serious Man. Reflecting on these influences, she has stated, “Looking back, I don't know how my Jewish film journey, how Shiva Baby, would have come about without those movies, or what it would have been like without them laying the groundwork."[1]

Filmography

[edit]
Film work by Emma Seligman
Year Title Notes
2018 Void[6] Short film
2018 Shiva Baby[6] Short film
2020 Shiva Baby[16] Feature adaptation of 2018 short
2023 Bottoms Feature film

Awards and nominations

[edit]
See also: List of accolades received by Shiva Baby

[c][d]

Year Association Category Work Result Ref(s).
2018 South by Southwest Best Narrative Short Shiva Baby Nominated [28][29]
2020 Denver Film Festival American Independent Award Shiva Baby Special mention: New Comedic Voice [30]
Filmmaker Magazine 25 New Faces of Indie Film 2020 Listed [31]
Miami International Film Festival Jordan Ressler First Feature Award Nominated [32]
Outfest Best Screenwriting Won [33]
Out on Film Best First Film Runner-up [34]
TIFF Critics Poll Best Screenplay Runner-up [16]
Variety
Presented at the Mill Valley Film Festival 		10 Screenwriters to Watch Listed [35][36]
2021 The Braddies Best Debut Listed [37]
Chicago Film Critics Association Milos Stehlik Breakthrough Filmmaker Award Nominated [38]
Detroit Film Critics Society Breakthrough Won[e] [39]
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards Best First Film Nominated [40]
Gotham Independent Film Awards Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award Nominated [41]
Hollywood Critics Association Midseason Awards Best Filmmaker Nominated [42]
Best Screenplay Nominated
IndieWire Critics Poll Best First Feature Fourth [43]
The Jewish Week 36 Under 36 Listed [44][45]
The New York Times Best Directing (Comedy) Won [46]
The ReFrame Stamp Narrative Feature Listed [47][48]
2022 Apolo Awards Best New Director Nominated [49]
Best Adapted Screenplay Won
Austin Film Critics Association Best First Film Nominated [50]
Chlotrudis Society for Independent Films Best Original Screenplay Nominated [51]
Directors Guild of America Awards Outstanding Directing – First-Time Feature Film Nominated [52]
DiscussingFilm Critics Awards Best Debut Feature Nominated [53]
Independent Spirit Awards John Cassavetes Award Won[f] [54]
Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Debut Feature Nominated [55]
Toronto Film Critics Association Best First Feature Runner-up[g] [56]
2023 Indiana Film Journalists Association Best Original Screenplay Bottoms Nominated[h] [57]
2024 Independent Spirit Awards Best Screenplay Nominated[i] [58]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]

References

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Emma Seligman

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![Seligman smiling](./assets/Emma_Seligman_%E2%80%93_Boston_Jewish_Film_11 Emma Seligman (born May 3, 1995) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter recognized for her independent features exploring themes of Jewish family dynamics, bisexuality, and youthful anxiety. Born and raised in Toronto to a Jewish family in the Reform Ashkenazi community, Seligman developed an early interest in cinema through a personal film blog and involvement with the Toronto International Film Festival's Next Wave Committee during high school. She later attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where she produced short films including the thesis project that evolved into her breakout work. Seligman's debut feature, (2020), adapted from her 2018 short of the same name, depicts a bisexual college student navigating encounters with her sugar daddy and family at a Jewish gathering, earning critical acclaim for its tense, single-location structure and premiered at festivals like SXSW and TIFF. The film received a New York Times Critics' Pick designation and nominations including for the Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a First Feature. Her follow-up, Bottoms (2023), co-written with frequent collaborator , is a raunchy about high school girls forming an underground to attract cheerleaders, blending absurd violence with coming-of-age elements and featuring actors like . While praised in indie circuits for subverting teen movie tropes, the film's unapologetic portrayal of flawed, manipulative protagonists has drawn some for glorifying , though Seligman has defended it as reflective of real adolescent self-interest.

Early Life

Family and Upbringing

Emma Seligman was born on May 3, 1995, in , , , to parents of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. She has one older sister, Lindsay. Seligman was raised in Toronto's Yonge and Eglinton neighborhood, part of the city's Ashkenazi Jewish community, in a close-knit family environment characterized by frequent extended family gatherings. Her parents, both film enthusiasts, exposed her to cinema from an early age, including regular attendance at the . The family background included a tradition of Jewish female writers, influencing Seligman's creative interests. As a third-generation Toronto Jew, Seligman experienced a culturally immersive Jewish upbringing, which she has described as strongly Zionist in orientation. This environment, combined with her parents' passion for movies such as those by John Hughes, shaped her early worldview and artistic inclinations.

Initial Interests in Film

Seligman, born on May 3, 1995, in to Jewish parents who were avid movie enthusiasts, developed an early affinity for cinema influenced by family viewings of films such as those by John Hughes. Her initial engagement with manifested through writing, as she maintained a personal during high school where she penned movie reviews, fostering a critical perspective on storytelling. This blogging activity directly connected her to the industry, earning her a position on the (TIFF) Next Wave Committee, which exposed her to diverse programming and emerging filmmakers. Initially aspiring to become a film critic, Seligman's interests shifted toward creation after she began directing theater productions in high school, particularly a in grade twelve that highlighted her affinity for narrative control and performance dynamics. This experience crystallized her desire to pursue , bridging her analytical writing background with hands-on directing.

Education

Studies at NYU Tisch

Seligman initially enrolled at in the liberal arts program before transferring to the Tisch School of the Arts during her sophomore year to focus on filmmaking. At Tisch's Kanbar Institute of Film and Television, she majored in Film and Television Production, where she developed her skills in writing, directing, and editing. During her undergraduate years, Seligman produced several short films, including Lonewoods and Void, while also interning at production companies such as Animal Kingdom Films, assisting on projects connected to films like It Comes at Night and . Her senior thesis was the short film , a 19-minute comedy exploring familial and social pressures at a Jewish mourning gathering, which she wrote, directed, and edited. The project drew from her personal experiences with Jewish cultural events and "sugaring," reflecting her interest in anxiety-driven narratives. She collaborated with peers like during this period, laying groundwork for future joint ventures. Seligman earned a from NYU Tisch in May 2017. Her thesis film later screened at NYU's First Run in 2018, marking an early showcase of her comedic style centered on interpersonal tension.

Thesis and Early Productions

Seligman directed Void (2017) during her undergraduate studies at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, a centering on a young girl's and her unrequited crush on a classmate. The 10-minute drama featured Sami Cavestani and Henry Fulton Winship in lead roles and addressed themes of adolescent desire and isolation. She also produced Lonewoods (2017), a coming-of-age noted for its exploration of youthful experiences, though limited public details exist due to its restricted availability. Her senior thesis project was the short film Shiva Baby (2018), which she wrote, directed, and edited while majoring in Film and Television Production. The 19-minute comedy follows Danielle, a college student navigating family pressures, a secret sugar daddy relationship, and queer identity during a Jewish shiva mourning ritual. Starring Rachel Sennott in the lead—whom Seligman met in class—the film premiered as an official selection at South by Southwest (SXSW) in March 2018 and was named a finalist in NYU Tisch's First Run Festival that year. Produced on a micro-budget using student resources and friends' involvement, it drew from Seligman's personal experiences in a Jewish family and marked her initial collaboration with key future partners like Sennott. The thesis short's success, including festival screenings at the Lower East Side Film Festival, laid the groundwork for its expansion into a feature film.

Career Development

Short Films and Independent Beginnings

Seligman's first , Void (2017), is an experimental drama about a young girl addicted to who develops an unrequited crush on a classmate, framed as a "silent sort of piece" examining porn and sexual validation. The film, directed and written by Seligman during her student years, runs approximately 5 minutes and features minimal dialogue, focusing on internal adolescent desire. Her senior thesis at NYU Tisch School of the Arts was (2018), a 7-minute-44-second produced by Zoey Pressey, edited by Hanna Park, and shot by Leyna Rowan. In it, a bisexual student encounters her older sugar daddy and his family at a Jewish gathering attended with her parents, blending familial pressure with personal secrets. The short premiered as a finalist in NYU's First Run Festival, earned a Staff Pick, and screened at SXSW 2018 and the Lower East Side Film Festival. Conceived amid reflections on and Jewish family dynamics, it drew from Seligman's experiences for its tense, single-location setup. These shorts marked Seligman's independent beginnings by demonstrating her command of confined spaces and comedic tension on low budgets, honed through internships at firms like Animal Kingdom Films and Big Beach Films. The Shiva Baby short specifically functioned as a proof-of-concept, leading to persistent efforts to expand it into a feature despite financing hurdles, ultimately attracting non-traditional investors after nearly a year of outreach. This transition underscored her resourcefulness in indie production, prioritizing script-driven storytelling over conventional funding paths.

Transition to Feature Films

Seligman's debut feature film, Shiva Baby (2020), originated as an expansion of her 2018 short film of the same name, which she directed as her senior thesis project at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. The short, starring Rachel Sennott in the lead role of Danielle, explored themes of Jewish family dynamics, bisexuality, and sugar dating within the confined setting of a shiva gathering, earning festival attention that facilitated the feature adaptation. To develop the feature, Seligman retained Sennott while expanding the narrative to include additional characters and heightened tension, drawing from her own experiences with "sugaring" and Jewish cultural pressures to craft a 85-minute runtime focused on comedic anxiety and interpersonal collisions. The project, produced on a modest budget shortly after her graduation in 2018, premiered virtually at South by Southwest in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, marking her entry into narrative feature competition circuits. This low-budget independent production, self-financed in part through post-NYU hustling including babysitting, transitioned her from thesis-level shorts to a critically noticed debut amid limited resources. The success of , which grossed over $1.5 million against its micro- and secured distribution via , paved the way for Seligman's second feature, Bottoms (2023), co-written with Sennott and produced under with a budget exceeding $1 million. Scripts for Bottoms were developed concurrently with 's , leveraging the established creative partnership and festival buzz to attract studio backing for a larger-scale teen comedy. This progression from self-produced expansion to studio-supported ensemble film underscored her shift toward commercially viable features while maintaining collaborative, character-driven storytelling rooted in personal and cultural observations.

Major Films

Shiva Baby (2020)

![Seligman smiling](./assets/Emma_Seligman_%E2%80%93_Boston_Jewish_Film_11 Shiva Baby is a 2020 American comedy-drama written and directed by Emma Seligman in her feature-length debut. The story follows college student Danielle, who must manage conflicting aspects of her life—including her sugar daddy, ex-girlfriend, and overbearing parents—during a single , a traditional Jewish mourning gathering. Running 77 minutes, the film employs a single-location setup in a house to build escalating tension through real-time awkward interactions and family scrutiny. Seligman adapted the feature from her 2018 short film of the same name, originally produced as her NYU Tisch thesis project to serve as a proof-of-concept. Drawing from personal experiences with hookup culture, family expectations, and identity compartmentalization, she expanded the narrative to explore gendered power dynamics and the anxiety of hidden relationships within a Jewish familial context. Influences include the claustrophobic style of John Cassavetes' films, psychological thrillers, and the series Transparent by Jill Soloway for its handling of Jewish neurosis and relational complexities. Production occurred over 16 days in August 2019 in Flatbush, Brooklyn, on a budget of approximately $200,000, with the limited location chosen partly for financial efficiency amid challenges securing financing. The film stars as Danielle, alongside Danny Deferrari as her sugar daddy Max, as ex-girlfriend Maya, and as her parents, and in a supporting role. Cinematography captures the confined space's oppressiveness, amplifying comedic cringe through tight framing and a percussive score that underscores mounting dread. Shiva Baby premiered at film festivals in 2020, including SXSW, before a limited U.S. theatrical release on , 2021, distributed by . It grossed $45,100 domestically, reflecting its independent scale. Critics acclaimed Seligman's direction for transforming a sitcom-like into a taut, insightful examination of millennial pressures, earning a 96% approval rating on from 174 reviews. Performances, particularly Sennott's and the ensemble's conveyance of familial passive-aggression, drew praise, though some noted the intensity might overwhelm viewers prone to . The film secured 11 awards and 37 nominations, including Independent Spirit Award nods for Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay for Seligman, and recognition for Sennott's breakout role. Festival wins encompassed best screenwriting and first feature honors, affirming its impact as a low-budget debut blending humor with raw interpersonal realism.

Bottoms (2023)

Bottoms is a 2023 American satirical film directed by Emma Seligman, who co-wrote the screenplay with . The story centers on two unpopular lesbian high school seniors, PJ (played by Sennott) and Josie (), who launch a as a scheme to impress and pursue romantic interests with school cheerleaders. The film features supporting performances from , , , , and , with production handled by ' . Seligman and Sennott developed the concept years prior to production, brainstorming on a to create a raunchy teen sex comedy centered on female protagonists, drawing inspiration from high school films like while emphasizing absurd violence and unfiltered adolescent sexuality. occurred in New Orleans, with fight choreography designed to blend and realism, reflecting the characters' amateurish bravado. Produced on a budget of approximately $11.3 million, the film marked Seligman's follow-up feature to . The film premiered at on March 11, 2023, where it received audience acclaim for its irreverent tone. (an MGM label) released it theatrically in the United States on August 25, 2023, expanding to wider distribution amid positive word-of-mouth. It earned $12.0 million domestically and $12.9 million worldwide, slightly exceeding its budget through limited theatrical runs peaking at 1,265 screens. Critics largely praised Bottoms for its energetic performances, sharp satire of high school hierarchies, and bold queer representation in a genre dominated by heterosexual tropes, earning a 91% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 225 reviews. Roger Ebert awarded it 3.5 out of 4 stars, commending the film's chaotic humor and Edebiri and Sennott's chemistry as driving forces in elevating the premise beyond clichés. However, some reviewers, such as in The New Yorker, critiqued its uneven plotting and reliance on shock value over deeper character development, viewing it as ambitious yet flawed in execution. Audience reception aligned with critics, yielding an IMDb score of 6.7/10 from over 54,000 users, with appreciation for its unapologetic absurdity.

Artistic Approach

Themes and Style

Emma Seligman's films frequently explore themes of anxiety, , and social pressures, particularly within female and queer experiences. In (2020), the protagonist Danielle navigates familial expectations during a Jewish ritual, confronting , sugar baby arrangements, and intergenerational scrutiny in a confined setting that amplifies internal dread. Seligman has described this as an "anxiety-pressure cooker," drawing from personal observations of young women's reliance on male validation for self-worth, which manifests as false under patriarchal influences. Recurring across her work is the decoding of sexual messaging from , where characters grapple with desire, repression, and identity without resolution, as seen in Danielle's ambiguous queerness avoiding reductive tropes. In Bottoms (2023), these motifs shift to high school satire, centering two teenage girls who form a to attract female crushes, satirizing narratives while critiquing male-dominated teen genres. Seligman frames this as reclaiming space for "shitty, horny, girls" absent from historical comedies, blending third-wave feminist undertones with absurd horniness and violence as outlets for repressed desire. Themes of exclusion from normative rites— in Shiva Baby, peer hierarchies in Bottoms—highlight causal links between societal expectations and personal neurosis, with identity portrayed through flawed, unidealized protagonists rather than aspirational ideals. Stylistically, Seligman employs dialogue-driven comedy laced with tension, evolving from 's single-location claustrophobia—shot in 77 minutes with anamorphic lenses for unease—to Bottoms' dynamic, improv-infused absurdity inspired by Edgar Wright's kinetic action and ' camp. Her approach prioritizes collaborative scripting with , incorporating scores and asymmetrical framing to underscore character imbalances, while low-budget constraints foster ingenuity, such as 's real-time editing to heighten horror-like anxiety. Influences from 1990s–2000s teen films like and inform a satirical lens, subverting homoerotic or gendered tropes for visibility without sanitization. This results in a hyper-specific, persona-inflected realism, where stylistic flair—campy violence, rapid banter—serves thematic depth over mere .

Key Collaborations

Emma Seligman's primary creative partnership is with , an actress and screenwriter she met at Tisch School of the Arts. Sennott originated the lead role of Danielle in Seligman's 2017 thesis short film , which Seligman later expanded into a feature of the same name released in 2020, with Sennott reprising the part under Seligman's direction. The collaboration extended to co-writing the screenplay for Bottoms (2023), a queer teen comedy directed by Seligman in which Sennott also starred as one of the protagonists, PJ. Seligman has also worked with , another NYU Tisch alumna and friend, who co-starred in Bottoms as Josie, the counterpart to Sennott's character. This marked their first on-screen collaboration, building on their shared university background where the trio—Seligman, Sennott, and Edebiri—developed early creative ties. On the production side, Seligman has partnered with producers Lizzie Shapiro, Kieran Altman, and Katie Schiller across multiple projects, including and an unproduced HBO comedy pilot announced in 2021. Shapiro, in particular, shared producing credits with Seligman on and has been credited in discussions of her early independent work.

Reception and Impact

Critical Praise

Shiva Baby (2020) received widespread critical acclaim, earning a 96% approval rating on based on 174 reviews. awarded it four out of four stars, commending Seligman's ability to strike "the perfect tone of feeling annoyed by her parents and mortified by the situation." described it as a "tense comedy" that captures the "potential land mines of a young woman's life... set to explode simultaneously." Critics praised its genre-blending of and anxiety, with Punch Drunk Critics giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars for unflinchingly portraying unlikeable yet realistic characters. The film also garnered recognition from awards bodies, winning the John Cassavetes Award at the 2022 Film Independent Spirit Awards for its micro-budget achievement. Harvard Crimson hailed it as a "horrifically funny masterpiece," highlighting Seligman's direction as an "expertly directed portrait" advancing queer storytelling in independent film. Bottoms (2023) similarly impressed, achieving a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score from 225 reviews. Variety noted Seligman's shift to a "more confident and audacious" style, abandoning realism for gonzo elements reminiscent of Fight Club and Heathers. The Guardian lauded its "cracking dialogue and... daft narrative arc" that skewers high school movie tropes while delivering big laughs. Los Angeles Times called it a "fiercely funny teen comedy of female rage," appreciating its chaotic, unapologetic energy centered on unruly protagonists. RogerEbert.com emphasized its absurdity in addressing visibility for marginalized characters, positioning it as a bold evolution from Seligman's prior work.

Criticisms and Limitations

Some reviewers have critiqued the protagonists in Seligman's films for their unlikability, a trait that contrasts with more forgiving portrayals of flawed male characters in similar comedies. In Shiva Baby, the lead is described as an "unlikeable " whose morally ambiguous actions, including involvement in sex work, contribute to the film's tension but alienate certain viewers despite strong performances. Seligman has expressed surprise at persistent backlash against such characterizations in her work, noting in discussions around Bottoms that female leads exhibiting selfishness or abrasiveness face disproportionate scrutiny compared to male counterparts in . In Bottoms, criticisms have extended to underdeveloped supporting characters and a perceived lack of emotional investment, with one review highlighting the film's challenge in compelling audiences to care about the protagonists' arcs amid its chaotic, absurdist tone. This has led some to view the narrative as weightless, prioritizing stylistic excess—such as exaggerated violence and gross-out humor—over deeper relational dynamics. Seligman's reliance on confined settings and escalating awkwardness, effective in generating , has also been noted as a potential limitation in spectacle and pacing for broader audiences. Her sophomore feature's expansion to a larger ensemble and action elements, while ambitious, occasionally results in tonal inconsistencies, as the queer premise strains under parody-like execution without fully resolving satirical aims. These elements reflect early-career constraints, including modest budgets that favor intimate, character-driven stories over expansive production values, potentially restricting versatility in future projects.

Awards and Honors

Notable Recognitions

Seligman's short film (2018) earned a nomination for Best Narrative Short at the Film Festival. Her feature-length adaptation of the same title (2020) received the Award at the 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards on March 6, 2022, recognizing achievement in directing for films budgeted under $1 million. The film also secured the Golden Tomato Award for Best Reviewed Comedy of 2021 from . In recognition of her emerging talent, Variety selected Seligman as one of its 10 Screenwriters to Watch in 2020 for Shiva Baby. That year, Filmmaker Magazine named her among the 25 New Faces of . She received a for the Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Feature Film for Shiva Baby in 2022, and a for the Gotham Independent Film Award for Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director in 2021. For her second feature Bottoms (2023), co-written with , Seligman earned a nomination for Best Screenplay at the announced December 5, 2023.

Personal Life and Views

Jewish Identity and Cultural Influences


Emma Seligman was born on May 3, 1995, in , , to parents of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, making her a third-generation member of the city's Jewish community. She grew up in Toronto's Ashkenazi neighborhood of Yonge and Eglinton, characterized by close-knit family ties and monthly gatherings with extended relatives, which embedded Jewish cultural practices into her daily life. This environment fostered a deep familiarity with rituals such as shivas and communal mourning, elements she later incorporated into her work. Seligman's Jewish identity manifests prominently in her preference for narratives centered on Jewish experiences, particularly those exploring the tensions of modern Ashkenazi life, including familial expectations and neurotic anxieties. In Shiva Baby (2020), she authentically depicts Judaism as a backdrop to personal turmoil, drawing from her own observations of Jewish social dynamics without overt didacticism. She has cited influences like the television series Transparent, created by Joey Soloway, for its unflinching portrayal of dark Jewish family interactions, which resonated with her upbringing and shaped her approach to comedic realism in intergenerational conflicts. Her early Zionist within the instilled certain ideological expectations, which Seligman has reflected upon with , expressing toward the presumption of uniform . Despite this, her films maintain a focus on cultural specificity over political advocacy, prioritizing empirical depictions of Jewish millennial and relational pressures derived from rather than abstracted . This approach underscores a commitment to nuanced, self-aware representations informed by personal immersion in Jewish traditions.

Public Statements on Identity and Society

Seligman has expressed a desire for representation in that embraces flawed, irreverent characters rather than idealized or overly serious portrayals. In discussing the development of Bottoms, she stated, "The only teen representation I’d seen on screen had been very tame and sweet, and I just wanted to see shitty characters," emphasizing a preference for " and stupid" narratives that allow individuals to be "shallow and corny and debaucherous" without centering coming-out stories. She has critiqued the prevalence of queerbaiting and minimal in queer media, noting frustration with depictions limited to "hand-holding, or the most gentle kiss ever," and advocated pushing boundaries to match the graphic portrayals common in straight content, asserting that "straight audiences can handle it." Regarding , Seligman has described evolving from identifying as bisexual to ceasing to date men prior to filming Bottoms in 2022, while using she/they pronouns and placing herself on the gender spectrum without identifying as trans or nonbinary. She has reflected on internalized pressures, saying as a bisexual person, she continues "cracking away at the part of me that’s like, ‘Well, I’ll end up with a man,’" and criticized assumptions that public figures without explicit labels are straight, arguing, "I don’t think anyone should feel pressured to put a pin on their sexuality." In pitching queer-led projects, she highlighted an underserved "rabid audience" of young queer women, akin to fans of artists like or . Seligman has commented on societal and industry resistance to explicit queer content, recounting how progressive corporations denied product placement for Bottoms due to offense at its themes, despite their public Pride support, which she found "really disheartening." Filming locations in New Orleans were blocked partly due to influence from the Archdiocese, illustrating broader institutional pushback. She has also addressed bisexual representation gaps, noting that female bisexual characters are often reduced to "spiciness" added to straight narratives, while male ones are repackaged as gay stories, contrasting with real-life fluidity. On sex work, depicted in Shiva Baby, she has described it as empowering for providing "control of my sexuality" and self-worth, while calling for destigmatization and decriminalization to afford workers equal protections.

References

  1. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7681231/
  2. https://macleans.ca/culture/emma-seligman-director/
  3. https://www.heyalma.com/18-things-to-know-about-jewish-director-emma-seligman/
  4. https://filmmakermagazine.com/people/emma-seligman/
  5. https://www.thecut.com/2021/04/meet-emma-seligman-the-director-of-shiva-baby.html
  6. https://www.wgaeast.org/onwriting/onwriting-pride-emma-seligman-shiva-baby/
  7. https://tiff.net/events/tiff-50-alumni-spotlight-with-emma-seligman
  8. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7681231/awards/
  9. https://collider.com/bottoms-director-emma-seligman-interview/
  10. https://glaad.org/bottoms-ayo-edebiri-emma-seligman-rachel-sennott-talk-celebrating-absurd-queerness-in-raunchy-comedy/
  11. https://www.ellecanada.com/culture/movies-and-tv/emma-seligman-bottoms-interview
  12. https://www.heyalma.com/emma-seligman-on-her-incredibly-jewy-debut-film-shiva-baby/
  13. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/tiff/article-tiff-2020-apples-honey-and-death-jewish-family-satire-shiva-baby/
  14. https://solzyatthemovies.com/2018/03/08/sxsw-2018-emma-seligman-talks-shiva-baby/
  15. https://nyulocal.com/emma-seligman-is-jewish-queer-and-figuring-herself-out-4adea6601177
  16. https://airmail.news/issues/2023-8-19/emma-seligman
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  18. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/why-emma-seligman-decided-to-make-a-movie-about-a-queer-fight-club
  19. https://tisch.nyu.edu/first-run-film-festival/archive/more-2018/shiva-baby.html
  20. https://tisch.nyu.edu/alumni/alumni-news/2024-forbes-30-under-30-list.html
  21. https://mubi.com/en/notebook/posts/this-precise-kind-of-woman-emma-seligman-and-rachel-sennot-discuss-shiva-baby
  22. https://www.vice.com/en/article/director-emma-seligman-five-films-that-influenced-shiva-baby/
  23. https://nyunews.com/2018/03/18/03-19-arts-shiva/
  24. https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a36006628/shiva-baby-emma-seligman-director/
  25. https://tisch.nyu.edu/alumni/alumni-news/2024-film-independent-spirit-award-nominees.html
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  30. https://www.shorescripts.com/short-films-that-went-on-to-become-features/
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  32. https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/shiva-baby-director-emma-seligman-interview-1234627680/
  33. https://www.eldredgeatl.com/2021/02/19/uncomfortable-comedy-a-qa-with-shiva-baby-writer-director-emma-seligman/
  34. https://www.sxsw.com/film/2020/get-to-know-emma-seligmans-family-drama-shiva-baby-sxsw-filmmaker-in-focus/
  35. https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a44878268/emma-seligman-bottoms-movie-interview-2023/
  36. https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/director-and-screenwriter-emma-seligman-on-carving-out-space-for-yourself/
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  48. https://www.statesman.com/story/entertainment/arts/2023/03/14/sxsw-bottoms-movie-change-the-world-rachel-sennott-ayo-edebiri/70008237007/
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  50. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bottoms
  51. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/bottoms-is-a-major-film-but-not-a-good-one
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  57. https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/shiva-baby-director-emma-seligman-adam-mckay-hbo-comedy-1234628952/
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  59. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/shiva-baby-movie-review-2021
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  64. https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/bottoms-review-rachel-sennott-1235550522/
  65. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/02/bottoms-review-queer-high-school-comedy-from-the-makers-of-shiva-baby
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