Louisa Connolly-Burnham 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,” 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 with an incredible team attached. BAFTA-winner Mia McKenna-Bruce will star, alongside executive producer Liz Destro (Longlegs, The Monkey). 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. Acclaimed composer Clint Mansell (Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream, Love Lies Bleeding) is on board, with casting led by Katy Covell and Ollie Gilbert.

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. Building on this momentum, Louisa is now developing four new shorts: The Intimacy Coordinator, Scratching Post, Full Fat, and VAG.

A passionate advocate for underrepresented voices in film, Louisa founded KULTY, a safe and inclusive space for women, non-binary, and gender-queer filmmakers. She is a member of Directors UK, WFTV, and Cinesisters, and has been awarded a BFI scholarship to the Female Film Club. She has served as a juror for the BAFTA x Rocliffe New Writing Competition, and currently sits on the juries of Raindance Film Festival, Sunrise Film Festival, and Stamford International Film Festival.

Her work has been featured in Variety, BBC News, Glamour, Collider, Deadline, Film Stories, British Cinematographer, Attitude, Diva, Pink News, Yahoo, Awards Daily, and more.