Shayna Connelly is a filmmaker based in Chicago whose work explores hauntings, liminality and the boundaries between documentary, experimental and fiction filmmaking.
Connelly’s lifelong obsession with ghosts led her to explore competing identities, the impact of trauma on perception, and the link between fear and desire. Her hybrid approach to cinema questions the strict categorization of film modes and genres. A collection of eight films called A Memory Palace of Ghosts connects the ways hauntings affect our daily lives. In the series, hauntings arise from traumatic events, mental illness, everyday routines, the search for truth and the aftermath of grief. Such hauntings culminate in a questioning of her identities as feminist, mother and artist. Her current work expands on that, focusing on mother-daughter relationships from both sides. Her films have screened at over 300 festivals worldwide.
Recently she expanded her artistic practice to include textiles, with her first quilt exhibited at Color Club Chicago in 2025.
She holds an BA in German Studies from Macalester College and an MFA in screenwriting and directing from Columbia College Chicago. She is a Professor of Film and Television and Chair of the Directing Program in the School of Cinematic Arts at DePaul University.
Awards: Her films have won awards at Big Muddy Film Festival, Columbus International Film Festival, Cinepocalypse, IC Docs, Middle Coast Film Festival, Milwaukee Women’s Film Festival, International Horror Hotel. In 2016, 2018 and 202 she was named one of Chicago’s 50 Screen Gems by Newcity Magazine. In 2025 she entered their Hall of Fame.
Notable Festival Screenings: Palm Springs ShortFest, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Athens International Film + Video Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, Cinepocalypse, Chicago Underground, Sydney Underground, San Diego Underground, Big Sky Documentary, San Francisco Documentary, Chicago Feminist Film Festival, Film and Video Poetry Society, The Artists’ Forum, Oak Cliff Film Festival, Stranger with My Face, Derby Film Festival.
Alternative Venues: Heaven Gallery, Whitespace Gallery, Single Frame, Nonplussed Film Festival, Museum of Contemporary Art, Milwaukee Art Museum, Blacklight Screening Series, Milwaukee and New York Paranormal Film Festivals, North Portland Unknown, South London Shorts.
Research Area
Directing, Cinema Production, Storytelling
Specific Research Area
Hybrid Modes, Experimental Film, Experimental Narrative, Horror Cinema, Feminism, Creativity
Professional Associations
UFVA