Ariel McCleese is a feminist horror writer-director based in Los Angeles. Her work carves out space in horror for women, trans, and non-binary people as agentive subjects rather than passive victims, activating the unique potential of the genre to speak to stigmatized themes. Following its West Coast premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival, her short film LADY PARTS won awards for Best Short Film, Best Director, and Best Production Design. LADY PARTS screened at twenty prestigious festivals worldwide before streaming on Shudder and Alter. Her prior short films have been showcased at independent genre festivals across the globe and her screenplays have placed in internationally-recognized competitions including The Page Awards, The Screencraft Fellowship, and Killer Shorts.
Alongside her filmmaking, McCleese is the founder and editor-in-chief of award-winning literary magazine Bloodletter. With a dual MFA in Fine Art and Critical Theory from University of California Irvine, Ariel weaves her passion for the visual arts, feminist horror theory, and community advocacy into the groundbreaking publication, which has amassed a readership of over 15,000 in 110 countries around the world.