Shaina Feinberg (she/they) is an award-winning American filmmaker and writer. She spent her twenties making a stoner, punk sketch show called The Spew. She has been on This American Life, was a resident at Space on Ryder Farms (2018) and Twenty Summers (2021), a Reel Families for Change grantee (2022), a recipient of the Reboot Studios grant (2023) and her short film Cleo From 8:20 to 2:35 was awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts grant (2024). Her short doc, A Brief History of Hating My Face (2023), was commissioned by The New York Times. She is a JFI Resident (2025) for her feature-length documentary, None of This Matters, about the iconic TV director Joan Darling. Shaina has written for The New Yorker, Washington Post and regularly for the New York Times for the past five years. Her third book, Work (2024), is a starred review from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and BookPage. Her films and books have been written about in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Bust, Broadly, Logo, THEM, Indiewire and more. She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and their two children.
Please List the Title of Your Film at BIFF 2025
We Should Eat
What was your first experience with film and how did it influence your first project?
My first experience with film was as a little kid. I grew up in New York City and the movies 91/2 Weeks and Fatal Attraction were both filmed in my childhood home. From a VERY young age I saw the behind-the-scenes of moviemaking and was hooked. The film that is at BIFF this year is filmed in the same location as those films (my childhood home)!
Who is (are) your favorite filmmakers?
I love Elaine May and Agnes Varda.
What are you working on that no one knows about?
I am working on a feature-length film called None of This Matters about the iconic TV director Joan Darling. And I have a short about our relationship premiering this May!
Who would play you in a movie? What’s your go to movie snack? What’s the film title that best describes your life?
Play me in a movie= The late great Alan Arkin
Snack=popcorn and a coke
Film that best describes my life=What About Bob
