Shiva

Shiva is an unnerving tale about a recently widowed woman who breaks with a long-held Jewish mourning ritual in hopes of connecting with her deceased husband.

Official Selection of Fantasia Film Festival and Hollyshorts Film Festival

  • Josh Saltzman
    Director
  • Josh Saltzman
    Writer
    Moonshine (CBC), Call ME Fitz (HBO Canada), Pete the Cat (Amazon), It's the Small Things Charlie Brown (Apple), Inspector Gadget: The New Animated Series (Netflix), Fangbone (Disney XD)
  • Jordan Nahmias
    Producer
    Stay Awhile, The Accountant of Auschwitz, Acquainted, Better Living Through Chemistry, I Used to Be Funny, Float
  • Lewis Spring
    Producer
    The Dessert; The Dessert Presents: St. Bulges Day; Scared Shitless; Bait and Switch; Out with the Old
  • Corrine Koslo
    Key Cast
  • Rosa Laborde
    Key Cast
  • Avery Saltzman
    Key Cast
  • Roney Roney
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Horror
  • Runtime:
    13 minutes 29 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 29, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    25,650 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Josh Saltzman

Josh is a Canadian Comedy Award winning Toronto/LA based writer, director and producer.
In live action he was written for Call Me Fitz, (USA NETWORK/HBO CANADA), This Hour Has 22 Minutes (CBC), and most recently he was the supervising producer and writer on the one-hour drama MOONSHINE, (CW/CBC).

In animation, Josh was the head writer of Inspector Gadget (Netflix), and has written for Fangbone! (Disney XD), Pete the Cat (Amazon) and wrote the new PEANUTS holiday special, It’s The Small Things, Charlie Brown (Apple).

Josh has sold and developed shows with Hulu, HBO MAX, Ghost House Pictures, Boatrocker, Wildbrain, and many others.

He is currently writing a stop-motion feature with Aircraft Pictures (nominated for best-animated feature for The Breadwinner). Magda Osinska (Star Wars: Visions) is attached to direct.

Josh is the author of the YA horror anthology STRANGE YARNS, available on Wattpad with over half a million downloaded reads. He’s also writing a graphic novel with animation director John Vassallo.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I was once jogging past a cemetery and witnessed something tragic, but ultimately hopeful. A funeral was underway and a bereaved woman tried to throw herself into the grave of her lost loved one. Her family and friends that had gathered around her held her back. They supported her in this most traumatic event.

I realized then the importance of ritual and community in our most fragile time, dealing with grief. The loss of a loved one can be so devastating that grief's allure can pull us towards death. Every culture gathers folks from the community to participate in rituals so that the bereaved can be bolstered by the love of the living.

Shiva is a cautionary tale about ignoring those rituals that have been designed to protect us from grief's allure.