Los Angeles, CA
About
EMMA
JOSEPHSON

Writer, director, and commercial editor whose work explores the search for meaning and direction in an otherwise chaotic world. Her thoughtful, emotionally driven stories are often expressed through a surrealist lens — drawing from her upbringing and personal relationships to create films rooted in connection, intimacy, and emotional truth.

Emma's award-winning narrative films have been official selections at festivals including Beyond Fest, Tacoma Film Festival, Seattle Queer Film Festival, and the Academy Award-qualifying Atlanta Film Festival and Dances With Films.

After a successful festival run, her dark psychological drama Bury Your Fish premiered online with Short of the Week in 2023. She was also a finalist for AFI's 2025 DWW+ program. Recent short films completing their festival runs include the 35mm coming-of-age experimental drama I Felt Like Magic and the LGBTQ drama Sew Into You. Her 35mm psychological thriller short Performance Review is currently screening at festivals in 2026.

Emma is currently in pre-production on her next short film, Don't Be Weird, which will serve as a proof of concept for a feature-length screenplay she plans to direct. She is also developing two additional thriller features.

20+
Film festival
selections
35mm
& 16mm
Shot on film
across various projects
5
Screenplays
in development
LA
Based · Available
worldwide

Emma's short films have screened at over 20 film festivals internationally, including Academy Award-qualifying festivals, premiering online with Short of the Week and earning recognition from AFI's 2025 DWW+ program.

Atlanta Film Festival (Academy Award-qualifying)
2022
Dances With Films
2022
Beyond Fest
2022
Tacoma Film Festival
2022
Short of the Week
2023
Seattle Queer Film Festival
2024
Lower East Side Film Festival
2024
Bushwick Film Festival
2024
Las Cruces Film Festival
Beverly Hills Film Festival
Portland Panorama
Eastern Oregon Film Festival
2022
Nightmares Film Festival
2022

Emma freelances full-time as a remote editor, collaborating with JOINT, Sockeye, Lucky Day, Wieden+Kennedy, and Blue Chalk on campaigns for global brands — as well as television series for Food Network, Magnolia Network, and the Emmy Award-winning Portland Trail Blazers series The Trail.

UGG Audible ULTA Target Nike Adidas Google Gatorade NBA PlayStation Honey Mama's Food Network Tillamook Duolingo Magnolia Network Gymshark Daughter Judy SanDisk Fialo

As a screenwriter, Emma's work has been nominated for a Student Emmy and supported by Film Pipeline, OMPA, the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC), Women in Film, and Koerner Camera.

She is currently in pre-production on Don't Be Weird, which will serve as a proof of concept for a feature-length screenplay she plans to direct. She is also developing two additional thriller features — Help Each Other! and I Want to Be Great.

Press & recognition
Short of the Week
"Emma Josephson’s Bury Your Fish is an esoteric journey into the annals of the mind. The film, bog and bold yet surprisingly contained, follows the directionless Sonia as she takes counsel from a faraway light flashing morse code."
Horror Geek Life
"Bury Your Fish is a dark psychological drama that follows Sonia, an isolated and lost young woman, as she begins taking life directions based on cryptic Morse code from a mysterious flashing light. When her fish suddenly dies, Sonia must face the ominous phantasm searching for the answers when the only question quickly becomes her own mental stability."
Publication name
Third press quote — even a festival programmer's note counts here.
Get in touch

LET'S
MAKE
SOMETHING

[email protected]

Available for directing, editing, and creative collaboration. Based in Los Angeles, working worldwide.

For commercial editing inquiries, brand projects, music videos, or narrative collaborations — reach out directly.