CARLEN MAY-MANN (they/she) is a Brooklyn-based writer and director of bold, humanistic
horror and drama films. Her debut short THE RAT, a haunted house film about gendered
violence, premiered at Sundance 2019. It went on to screen at the Champs-Elysées Film
Festival, the Maryland Film Festival, and more 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.

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. They are currently developing FROM YOUR EYES TO MINE, a
queer ghost story set in their hometown of Laguna Beach, California.

Carlen 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.