I'm an independent documentary film editor and self shooting director, particularly drawn to intimate stories of human resilience. Most notably, the feature documentary All We Carry, which I edited, co-wrote, and co-produced, had its festival run last year in the U.S., picking up ... Read More

I'm an independent documentary film editor and self shooting director, particularly drawn to intimate stories of human resilience. Most notably, the feature documentary All We Carry, which I edited, co-wrote, and co-produced, had its festival run last year in the U.S., picking up awards at Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, and most recently at The Indies, an awards ceremony run by Slamdance Group, where it won Best Documentary and was nominated for Outstanding Storytelling Craft. I was also nominated for Best Editing at the Madrid Film Awards. All We Carry is a tender verite film that follows an asylum-seeking family from Honduras as they flee persecution and endure separation in detention before settling in Seattle, Washington. There, they navigate the daily joys and grief of setting up life in a new place, while facing the trauma they carry with them.

After All We Carry, I went on to edit and co-write the feature documentary Music for Mushrooms, a collaboration with music artist East Forest and a story about the power of music, plant medicine, and ceremony in personal healing. A third feature documentary I edited, #adoption, which investigates coercion and lawlessness in the world of domestic infant adoption in the U.S., is currently in post and due to premiere this year. My short film Somali Night Fever—which I directed, shot, and edited—was published with The Guardian. It tells the story of Somalia's golden era of music through the stories of two former bandmates and best friends who lost touch during the country's civil war. It was long-listed and given a special mention at the 2020 One World Media Awards and has over one million views. I directed, shot and edited a short documentary about Afro-Mexican culture in Veracruz for Atlas Obscura and a mini doc about Kenyan artist Cyrus Kabiru for BBC. 

Along with The Guardian and the BBC, I have published with The New York Times, following an Indigenous roller derby team and the vibrant bus culture of Nairobi, Kenya. I have also been published in CNN African Voices, profiling Sudanese artists, and I documented Kenya's sand wars with Al Jazeera English. I'm a member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia, BIPOC Doc Editors, the Alliance of Documentary Editors, Across The Cut, the Video Consortium, and the Asian American Documentary Network.

www.rachelclarareed.com

rachelclarareed@gmail.com

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