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Alan Clay


Alan Clay (born 1954, Whanganui, New Zealand) is a film director, writer and clown teacher. In his early career he performed and taught extensively as a clown. He wrote three novels and a clown textbook. He went on to write and direct a short film and two feature films, which are adapted from his novels.

Clay is the son of literacy scientist, Marie Clay.

In 2007 he produced, wrote and directed the short film Moontan, a story about two street clowns swept up in the occupation of New Zealand's last Victorian theatre, the Royal Wanganui Opera House. The script was an adaptation of his first novel, published in 1995.

Moontan screened at the Fringe Film Festival in Wellington, New Zealand in July 2007, and in the Market at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival 2008 and the Short Film Corner at the Cannes Film Festival in France. A DVD was released in 2009, which includes a 20-minute 'making of' documentary.

Clay produced, wrote and directed his first feature film Butterfly Crush in 2009, which he adapted from his novel Dance Sisters. The film was released in New Zealand in 2010 and will be distributed in North America by Vanguard Cinema.

Butterfly Crush won an "Accolade Award of Excellence" for Best Supporting Actor for Amelia Shankley's portrayal of the Dreamguides leader, Star. The film won the "Best International Narrative Feature" award at the Anthem Film Festival in Las Vegas, which presents "the year's best films about personal and civil liberty". It has also won the "Best Feature Drama" at the Indie Gathering Film Festival in Ohio and the "Best Feature Film" award at the Reel Independent Film Extravaganza in Washington D.C.

Courting Chaos is a 2014 award winning romantic comedy, which Clay wrote and directed. The film is adapted from his book Angels Can Fly, a Modern Clown User Guide and the story is about a Beverly Hills girl who falls for a Venice Beach street clown called Chaos and she must overcome her inhibitions and become a clown herself for the relationship to survive.

Courting Chaos won the Best Comedy Film award at its premiere at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival in February 2014 and went on to win the Special Jury Award for Romantic Comedy from WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, one of the top awards from the oldest independent film festival in the world, where lead actor, Rachelle DiMaria, was also nominated for Best Actor. The film also received Awards of Merit for Best Director and Best Feature Film from the Accolade Competition.


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