Shelley Davis is a Jewish-Italian documentary filmmaker and storyteller based in North Texas and Portland, Oregon. Her research and stories focus on building connections between lost histories, the land, and our everyday lives. She recently graduated with a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) Degree in Documentary Production and Studies from the University of North Texas (UNT) in Denton, Texas and has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of The Art Institute of Chicago’s Film, Video, Animation and New Media Department. Shelley currently teaches at Portland State University as a Teaching Assistant Professor and Portland Community College as an adjunct instructor.

Influenced by her background in fictional narrative cinema and sound, she uses her life experiences as a Jewish-Italian woman from Florida to tell stories about Jewish people, environmental racism, the climate crisis, underrepresented communities of color in Florida and Texas, and storytelling through different mediums of art. Throughout her storytelling practice, Shelley uses sound, video, and film and draws from influences of the cinéma vérité and direct cinema movements to tell stories rooted in activism, community, social justice, tikkun olam, and immersing audiences in sensorial experiences. Shelley’s work has screened internationally, from Israel to Italy and nationally across the United States from Florida to Texas and beyond. Her storytelling and documentary practice is rooted in telling stories that need to be told and empowering underrepresented voices in art and media to share their story.