About
CARLEN MAY-MANN (they/she) is a Brooklyn-based writer and director of bold, humanistic horror, drama, and comedy films. Her debut short THE RAT, a film about gendered violence set in a haunted house, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019. It went on to screen at prestigious festivals, such as the Champs-Élysées Film Festival and the Maryland Film Festival, before premiering online on Gunpowder & Sky’s horror platform, ALTER, and being selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick.
Carlen’s follow-up short, ROMANCE PACKAGE FOR TWO, is about a messy queer love triangle that takes place in a campy love motel. It played at Palm Springs ShortFest, NewFest, the Florida Film Festival, and more. It is available online via Short of the Week, Directors Notes, and Film Shortage.
Currently, Carlen is in pre-production on her newest short film, GRIPPY SOCKS, a dark comedy about a young woman forced to spend 48 hours in the emergency room following a suicide attempt. The film is being produced by João Pereira-Webber (ISABEL, Berlin 2026) and Noah Dirks (ART SPIEGELMAN: DISASTER IS MY MUSE, TIFF 2025).
In addition to these successful shorts, Carlen has written several features that they will go on to direct. Their feature-length coming-of-age/horror screenplay STRAWBERRY SUMMER was a participant in the 2019 Sundance Screenwriters Intensive and 2019 Women at Sundance
Financing and Strategy Intensive. The film is being produced by The Department of Motion Pictures (BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILDS) and has received grants from Cinereach and The Harnisch Foundation. Their other features in development are FROM YOUR EYES TO MINE, a queer ghost story set in their hometown of Laguna Beach, California, and HAEMOCHROMATOSIS, an unconventional take on the vampire myth.
Carlen is an active member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, and she has been featured in Indiewire, The Creative Independent, and more. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wesleyan University with a degree in Film Studies and Psychology.