Shannon Silva is a multi-modal filmmaker living and working in Wilmington, NC.
She is a Professor of Film Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Her films have screened at festivals internationally including: Atlanta Underground, London Short Film Festival, Melbourne Underground, Cucalorus, Docutah, Indie Grits, Sidewalk, St. John's International Women's Film Festival, and more.
In 2013, her feature documentary, It's A Girl Thing: Tween Queens and The Commodification of Girlhood, was awarded Best Social Documentary at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival.
In 2016, she was awarded the prestigious North Carolina Arts Council's Fellowship award to complete the narrative short, Baby Oil. While on its festival run, Baby Oil screened widely and was an award nominee at the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival for Best Writing and Best Actress.
In 2018, she was awarded a competitive Charles L. Cahill grant to complete the narrative short, Shoot the Duck. The film screened widely, including at the CMS International Film Festival in Lucknow, India.
In 2021, her experimental, animated, documentary, To Live and Die in the Meditations on Ferns, Survival, and Horizontal Gene Transfer, screened at festivals internationally and was named Best Environment and Climate Short Film at the Mannheim Arts and Film Festival.
In 2023, her animated experimental film, Flare, screened as festivals internationally, was awarded Best Experimental Short at Denver Underground Film Festival and was a finalist for Best Animated Film at Austin Micro Film Festival.
Most recently, the narrative short, Keepsake, which she Produced has completed post-production is going out to festivals. She is now in production on the third installment to her short experimental, animation trilogy: Burn. She is also very excited to be producing Andre Silva’s environmental installation touring project Films for Trees.
In addition to her film work and teaching, Shannon is the founder and Executive Director of the Visions Film Festival & Conference.