Biography

Daniela Di Salvo is an independent filmmaker and screenwriter from Toronto, with a background in graphic design and the performing arts. She writes and directs psychological horror and dark, absurdist comedies that explore inherited trauma, grief, familial duty, and the body as a site of violence.

Her short film Welcome Home swept the Independent Shorts Awards in Los Angeles, winning Best Mobile Short, Best Microfilm, and Best Director (Female), and went on to win Best Sci-Fi Short, Best Mobile Short, and Best Director (Female) at Indie Short Fest. Her films have screened and placed at festivals across North America and Europe.

She is currently optioning Humdrum, a feature-length psychological horror which was developed at the Stowe Story Labs Writers Retreat in September of 2025 and was a semi-finalist in the BlueCat Screenplay Competition in May 2026. Its proof-of-concept short script won Best Short Script at Indie Short Fest and was selected for a table read and industry panel discussion at Cascadia International Women’s Film Festival. She is also in progress on writing We Carry the Sky, an apocalyptic creature feature, Mother Hunger, a psychological chamber piece character study, and Blister Falls, a surreal absurdist dark comedy taking place in Northern Ontario.
- IMDb mini biography by: Daniela Di Salvo