Louisa Connolly-Burnham Instagram – Next up in the Sharks annual calendar of creative events is our Short Film & Branded Content Awards Competition, which is traditionally held in the first 2 months of the new year.
So it’s our great pleasure to announce that Louisa Connolly-Burnham has agreed to join our panel of judges for 2026.
Louisa is an award-winning writer-director-actress from Birmingham and founder of Thimble Films. A bold new voice in British cinema, she is celebrated for emotionally charged, darkly sensual, female-led storytelling, as well as her compelling presence both behind and in front of the camera.
In 2024, Louisa wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the breakout short film Sister Wives, alongside BAFTA-winner Mia McKenna Bruce (MUBI’s How To Have Sex).
The short was long-listed for the 2025 Oscars and BAFTAs, acquired by Film4, ranked #3 in Letterboxd’s global “Year in Review 2024” and won over 30 awards across 100 international festivals, including Best LGBTQIA Film at HollyShorts.
Building on the success of the short, Louisa is currently developing her debut feature, Sister Wives, now entering an exciting stage of development. BAFTA-winner Mia McKenna-Bruce will star, alongside executive producer Liz Destro. The Coppola family’s American Zoetrope (Priscilla, Lost in Translation, Apocalypse Now) joins as US producing partner, with Emily Everdee of Everdee Media leading in the UK.
Louisa’s previous shorts have also earned international acclaim. Her directorial debut, The Call Centre, received nominations at Oscar-qualifying Foyle Film Festival and BAFTA-qualifying Aesthetica and Underwire, alongside Audience Awards at ÉCU and Sunday Shorts. Her subsequent films, including The Track, The Ceiling, and Fleeting, have screened at prestigious Oscar- and BAFTA-qualifying festivals, winning awards for directing and continuing to explore bold, socially relevant themes.
Louisa is now developing four new shorts: The Intimacy Coordinator, Scratching Post and Full Fat A passionate advocate for underrepresented voices in film, Louisa founded KULTY, a safe and inclusive space for women, non-binary, and gender-queer filmmakers.
@louisaconnollyburnham
@thimblefilms | Posted on 09/Dec/2025 17:26:31
