Vuka
In a township on the outskirts of Cape Town, a visionary choir conductor uses music to help young people find purpose, belonging and harmony in an unforgiving world.
Dir. Matthew Robinson
Filmmaker & Writer
Shannon Walsh
Films about power, intimacy, labour and the ways people make lives together.
An award-winning filmmaker and writer. A Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts.
Her films have been released theatrically and broadcast internationally, and move between intimate character-driven storytelling and larger questions about work, inequality, climate, grief and the ways people make lives together.
SXSWIDFAHot DocsCPH:DOXDOC NYCVenice BiennaleCentre PompidouSXSWIDFAHot DocsCPH:DOXDOC NYCVenice BiennaleCentre Pompidou
Upcoming
In production & soon to be released
Mayisela
An animated documentary about South African whistleblower Simphiwe Mayisela, who risked everything to expose corruption at one of Africa’s largest pension funds.
Dir. Shannon Walsh
Intimacies
Why do we keep falling for the same person in different bodies? When Robby withdraws without quite leaving, Claire hires a sex worker to rehearse the wound she keeps repeating.
Dir. Shannon Walsh
In development
Next stories
Heteros
Across the globe, straight women are opting out of dating men. Playful and archive-driven, Heteros investigates why heterosexuality just isn’t that into them, and what new intimacies are emerging in its wake.
Dir. Shannon Walsh & Chase Joynt
Without Witness
Without Witness
What happens when two people mistake the intensity of seeing one another for the capacity to save one another?
London Calling
London Calling
Rob is dead. Decades after witnessing the police beating that changed both their lives, a filmmaker returns to London to unravel the story of a boy who haunted her long before he was gone. Part true-crime investigation, part personal reckoning, London Calling traces the tangled legacies of obsession, addiction and institutional neglect.
ManBitch
In the restless streets of post-apartheid Durban, a disillusioned Afrikaans intellectual drifts through a world of sex workers, failed romances and desperate longing. A darkly comic portrait of desire, alienation and a man coming undone.
Screenplay by Shannon Walsh
Selected films
Feature documentaries
Adrianne & the Castle
Alan built a castle in rural Illinois with his late love. Facing life alone, he revisits their fantasy through musical re-enactments transporting him to the world they shared.
The Gig is Up
App developers lured a massive labour force by promising flexible hours with no offices or bosses, but with gig workers from Uber, Amazon, Lyft and more in front of the camera, the human cost of disruption runs deep.
Illusions of Control
Taking inspiration from the late cultural theorist Lauren Berlant’s influential work Cruel Optimism, a philosophical portrait of five women’s stories of survival and transformation on a global scale.
Jeppe on a Friday
The joys and struggles of five diverse people living in one Johannesburg neighbourhood.
Selected recognition
Fellowships & awards
- 2026CHANEL Women Creators’ Network Grant
- 2026TIFF Writers’ Lab
- 2025Royal Society of Canada, College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists
- 2025MacDowell Fellowship, Ernest and Red Heller Fellow
- 2023Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts
- 2020Guggenheim Fellowship
Writing
Books
Contact
Get in touch
For screenings, distribution, teaching and speaking. A full filmography and CV are available on request.