Alexandra Elizabeth Shiva is an American film director. ''Bombay Eunuch'' is her 2001 award-winning film, and in 2015 she showed '' How to Dance in Ohio'' at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

in the US Documentary Competition. Shiva also founded a production studio called Gidalya Pictures.

Personal life

Shiva was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, the daughter of Susan (née Stein) and Gil Shiva. Her grandfather was

Jules Stein Jules C. Stein (April 26, 1896 – April 29, 1981) was an American physician and businessman who co-founded Music Corporation of America (MCA). Early life and education Stein was born in South Bend, Indiana, to Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, one ...

, founder of MCA, the film, television, and record company. She graduated

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

in 1995 with her A.B. in Art History. In 2003, Shiva married writer

Jonathan Marc Sherman Jonathan Marc Sherman (born October 10, 1968) is an American playwright, poet, and actor. He submitted plays for several years to Young Playwrights Inc.'s National Playwrights Competition before they did a staged reading of his one-act, ''Serend ...

. They have two children.

Career

Shiva's first directed documentary film was ''Bombay Eunuch'' (2001), which was also co-directed with Sean MacDonald and Michelle Gucovsky. The film was released by Shiva's production company Gidalya Pictures. It examined the decline in the traditional status of

eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...

s in India focusing on one family. Meena the leader of the family Shiva follows around allowed the filmmakers into the private world of hijras in hopes of improving the stigma around hijras. Shiva accomplished gaining access to the private world of hijras, which has traditionally been inaccessible to journalists. Thus allowing for a glimpse of a secretive, invisible world.

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

commended the film for dignifying these outcasts and never condescending them. In 2006, Shiva directed her second documentary film ''Stagedoor''. The film is about the

Stagedoor Manor Stagedoor Manor is a performing arts training center located in Loch Sheldrake, New York. Since its opening, it has trained thousands of young actors, many of whom have gone on to success in film, television, and theater. Stagedoor Manor is ...

, a premier summer theatre camp for children ages 8 – 18. The film follows extroverted, budding young actors at Stagedoor Manor, where her husband also attended as a boy. Shiva continued to be interested in the theme of people who felt like they didn't belong but find communities where they do, with her third film ''How to Dance in Ohio'' (2015). The film takes place in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

following the story of three teenage girls who have

autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

preparing to go to the prom. It shows the courage of people facing their fears and entering the adult world. This was Shiva's first film she created after her children were born. She intended to make it in

NYC New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive wit ...

, but her research led her to Ohio where she discovered Emilio Amigo, a psychologist working with autistic children. The US TV rights for ''How to Dance in Ohio'' were acquired by

HBO Documentary Films HBO Documentary Films is an American production and distribution company and a division of the cable television network HBO that produces non-fiction feature films and miniseries. The division releases between 10 and 15 documentaries per year fo ...

. The film premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and appeared on HBO later in 2015. It won a Peabody Award in 2016. The film is being adapted into a musical by composers Jacob Yandura and Rebekah Greer Melocik, which was conceived of by Hal Prince. In 2018, Shiva directed ''This is Home: A Refugee Story,'' an intimate portrait of four Syrian refugee families arriving in America and struggling to find their footing. The film premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Documentary Audience Award. It was also awarded the 2019 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award and was acquired by

Epix MGM+ (formerly known as Epix; pronounced ''epics'' and stylized as eᴘix), is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by the MGMPlus Entertainment subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), which is itself a subsidiary ...

. For her fifth film, Shiva directed ''Each and Every Day'' (2021) for MTV Documentary Films. The documentary is an exploration of youth mental health through the eyes of young people who have attempted suicide or have struggled with suicidal thoughts. It premiered on MTV. In 2024, Shiva co-directed and produced alongside Lindsey Megrue, '' One South: Portrait of a Psych Unit'' revolving around patients and staff at

Zucker Hillside Hospital Zucker Hillside Hospital is a psychiatric facility in Glen Oaks, Queens, New York. It opened in 1926, relocated to its present address in 1941, and was renamed in 1999 to its present name. Overview ''Zucker Hillside Hospital'' is an inpatient ...

for

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

Filmography

Director and Producer

* ''Bombay Eunuch'' (2001) * ''Stagedoor'' (2006) * '' How to Dance in Ohio'' (2015) * ''This Is Home: A Refugee Story'' (2018) *''Each and Every Day'' (2021) *'' One South: Portrait of a Psych Unit'' (2024)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shiva, Alexandra Elizabeth American women film producers Film directors from New York City Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Vassar College alumni American women film directors Film producers from New York (state)