Intimacies
A woman confronts the man she is falling for as he pulls away, not with cruelty, but with an inability to receive her. Desperate to understand what she couldn’t in the moment, she recreates the encounter with a sex worker.
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.
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Current work
In development & soon to be released
Heteros
A feature documentary by Shannon Walsh and Chase Joynt, from Level Ground.
Mayisela
Simphiwe Mayisela is a cybersecurity specialist at Johannesburg’s Public Investment Corporation when he stumbles into the centre of a massive pension fund scandal. Caught between his CEO and the police, he does what he believes is right, and loses everything. Based on the graphic novel of the same name.
Without Witness
Without Witness
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.