Clare McCann

Clare began regular dramatic arts training from the age of 7 at the Australian Theatre for Young People which was, in fact, an act of desperation by her mother who was a little tired of Clare’s daily theatrical productions that she would convince her neighbors and family members into being apart of - Lucky for Clare’s mother, Clare was awarded multiple scholarships that kept her busy throughout her childhood. At the age of 12, Clare was choreographing her school's productions and winning statewide writing and directing competitions such as The Tournament of the Minds for a politically themed sequel to Norman Lindsay's The Magic Pudding. By 15, Clare was writing, directing, choreographing, and performing in productions for her local theatre company to great success with sell-out seasons that were standing room only. After high school, Clare was awarded another scholarship and studied music theatre full time at ACE’s MASQUE. Clare then began working as an actor, singer, dancer, and choreographer around Australia before landing the role of Cherry on FOXTEL’s Channel [V]'s comedy/skit TV show, Blog Party, where she was voted a most popular personality. Clare self-developed her content on Blog Party and also was the concept creator for Channel [V]'s highly successful Clublife TV. Clare then began writing music and worked as a vocalist touring Australia and Asia alongside many well- known acts including Lil’ Jon, Timmy Trumpet, and Havana Brown before being contracted as the lead singer, and show writer, in The Star Casino's She Wolves cabaret for straight sold-out 2 year run. Clare was also contracted as the Creative Director at Marquee Sydney; a high profile and demanding role managing, choreographing, and designing costumes for all actors, models, dancers, and roving entertainment as well as assisting in marketing campaigns and producing and directing film productions. Clare returned to university to further her studies at AIM and AFTRS where she studied a bachelor in dramatic arts, writing, directing, design, theatre, and film making and certificates in production and cinematography while continuing to work in local professional theatre productions. Clare then began developing her own film productions, her first fully written, produced, directed, and designed short film, Mirror Girl, was a finalist in the Sci-Fi Film Festival where she was also nominated for Best Performance. Benefited, her feature film writing, producing and directorial debut, premiered at Sydney Indie Film Festival where it was nominated for numerous awards and won the Unstoppable Creator award. Benefited also won a string of awards in Aphrodite Film Awards and Mindfield Film Festival for writing, directing, producing, and acting. Benefited was also official selection for the 2022 AACTA’s, Sanctuary Cove International Film Festival and Women’s International Film & Arts Festival. Benefited was created to raise awareness of domestic violence and was released worldwide in 2020 during the COVID pandemic. Clare is passionate about making films that promote feminism and bring awareness to societal issues. Shortly after the release of Benefited Clare launched the Sydney Women’s International Film Festival which she is the current Festival Director of.