Clare MacDonald

Clare Macdonald is a director, writer, and artist whose shorts have screened at BAFTA- and Oscar-qualifying festivals worldwide. Their work has won awards such as Best Director (AWFJ, US), the London Director Awards, and NFTS Star of Tomorrow at BAFTA. Projects have been selected for Canneseries Writers Club and the final rounds at Sundance’s Feature and YouTube Episodic Labs. Clare’s feature scripts have won the Annecy Festival Residency and the WEP Films JETS scheme at Berlinale. Clare began their career after film school by writing nine content films in different genres, including a Musion technology holographic finale for the UAE pavilion at the Milan Global Expo, which remained on display in Dubai for three years. Clare’s creative work explores the tension between systems of control and personal rebellion, capturing intimate emotional realities through bold visual storytelling and sharp, compressed narratives. Their films blend dark humour with emotional precision, often confronting the complexity and contradictions within personal and collective memory. Trained at NFTS and Oxford, Clare has also taught as a visiting lecturer at London Film School and is bilingual in French. Their artist film was recently presented as an installation at Vielmetter Los Angeles, and they are currently developing their debut Anglo-French feature. Clare is a founding member of Primetime and Cinesisters, and a Directors UK Inspire mentee.