Mercies May

Directing

Birthplace: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Mercies May is a Minneapolis-based horror writer-director whose work uses genre to explore trauma, grief, and power dynamics, often where those forces intersect. He has directed more than 160 independent music videos, developing a highly visual, rhythm-driven approach to filmmaking. He has also worked as a freelance screenwriter, including co-writing an adaptation of August Prize-winning novel They Will Drown in Their Mothers’ Tears with author Johannes Anyuru. In addition, he served as director of photography on Stage, the Midwest Emmy Award-winning TPT/PBS music documentary series. His latest short film, A Shadow in the Corner of the Room, explores entropy, isolation, and aging through the most elemental fear: what may be waiting in the dark.