Claire Barnett is a writer-director from Little Rock, Arkansas based in Brooklyn, New York.
Claire’s films have been exhibited in several film festivals across the United States and Europe. Her short film FREAK received a Special Mention at the 77th Locarno International Film Festival, Pardi Di Domani International Competition. FREAK celebrated its North American Premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival (2024), and its Norwegian premiere at the Minimalen Short Film Festival (2025).
Her short film HOLY WATER premiered at New Orleans Film Festival, and will premiere on the West Coast at Slamdance Film Festival in February 2025. Her short documentary SUSAN AND LESLIE screened at Slamdance Film Festival (2023) and New Orleans Film Festival (2022), and is now available for streaming on the Slamdance Channel. She is a Documentary Shorts programmer for the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival, and was a Narrative Shorts programmer for the 2024 season. She is the Creative Director for Gilliam Writers Group, where she also teaches screenwriting.
Claire received her BFA in Film from the University of Central Arkansas in 2021, and is now a thesis student at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Kanbar Institute of Film & Television Graduate Film. She is a recipient of the New York Women in Film Scholarship, the Alan Landsburg Documentary Production Award, the David Golden Scholarship, and the Steven J. Ross Fellowship.