Shayna Connelly

Shayna Connelly is a filmmaker based in Chicago whose work explores hauntings, liminality and the boundaries between documentary, experimental and fiction filmmaking. Inspired by a book on haunted houses shelved in the non-fiction section of her childhood library, Connelly’s lifelong obsession with ghosts led her to explore trauma, place, identity and the link between fear and desire. Her hybrid approach to cinema questions the strict categorization of film modes and genres. She enjoys breaking cinematic rules regarding character, action and structure while exploring subjectivity, surrealism and abstraction. Her films have won awards at Big Muddy Film Festival, Berlin Short Film Festival, Cinepocalypse, Milwaukee Women's Film Festival, Columbus International and IC Docs. QUIVER is the 6th film in an eight film series called A MEMORY PALACE FOR GHOSTS. Films in the series have screened over 100 festivals including Palm Springs International ShortsFest, Chicago Underground, Sydney Underground, San Diego Underground, Brooklyn Film Festival, Bushwick Film Festival, Chicago Feminist Film Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival and Athens International among others. Newcity Magazine named her one of Chicago's 50 Screen Gems of 2016.