At the core of all of Marcelle Marais' filmmaking is a deep look into gender relations, the primal qualities of humans as animals, and a dedication to confronting and exposing social inequities. Her work looks deeply at the archetype of woman as witch, and delves into supernatural and occult ritual. Her films and music videos seek to bring people together through integrating female centered roles through gritty psychological cinema, heavy metal, and live performance art. As a South African, female transplant in California, Marais breaks boundaries in all her work, keeping primary focus in her films and music videos on strong, unapologetic, and aggressive female leads as they dismantle the predominantly male dominated worlds of heavy metal, grindhouse, and psychological horror cinema. Walking the line between provocative and the confrontational, Marais' films explore the relationship between the perverse and the grotesque and interrogate our expectations of the sacred and the profane.

Marais studied Painting and Filmmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2011. At SFAI, Marcelle studied extensively with George Kuchar learning to blend her specific vision of cinematic magical surrealism with live performance art. Upon graduating, Marais continued her mentorship in time-based media with Guillermo Gòmez-Peña, acclaimed performance artist, writer and activist. Through these collaborations, Marais continued to fuse film production with the medium of body based performance art. In these works with Gòmez-Peña, Marais explored the body as canvas, creating politically challenging, sexually charged, film and video projects centering on gender bending and culturally transgressive live performances.

Her background as a filmmaker/director compliments her intuitive understanding for music and sound design. Over the years Marais' film production practice has expanded to include filming and producing music videos for bands through creative interpretations of their recordings and live performances. She has worked with clients of various genres including Altar de Fey, Vorlust, False Figure, Psychic Hit, [A]drenochrom[E] and Sangreal Records.

Marais first experimental feature film, TriTonia, premiered in 2018. Each screening was accompanied by a haunting soundscape performed live by the synth noise quartet; TriTonian Mass. The film takes you on a kaleidoscopic journey of feral lust, psychological horror, and sexual deviance, celebrating the feminine Divine and challenging social constructs of sexuality. She has exhibited and performed internationally and across both coasts of the United States With notable mentions being The Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City, Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson, and SOMArts in San Francisco.

Currently, Marcelle lives and works in Oakland, California and is in pre-production for her first narrative film, SHRIEEK.