All We Carry
Winner of the Kathleen Bryan Edwards Award for Human Rights at the 2024 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, feature documentary All We Carry follows a young Honduran family as they flee persecution—migrating in cargo trains across Mexico, claiming asylum at the US border, and enduring separation in detention before being released in Seattle. There, a local synagogue sponsors the family for two years while they await the final decision on their asylum case. As the family tries to settle into their new home, we witness their everyday moments—both sorrowful and joyful—along the way.
Directed, co-written and produced by Cady Voge
Edited, co-written and co-produced by Rachel Clara Reed
Produced by Laura Pilloni and Laura Tatham
Music by Alejandro Staro and Ezequiel Tarica
Somali Night Fever
Long-listed for the 2020 One World Media Awards, with over one million views, published by The Guardian and Lush Film Fund.
In the 1970s and 80s Mogadishu's airwaves were filled with Somali funk, disco, soul and reggae. Musicians rocking afros and bell-bottom trousers would perform at the city's trendiest nightclubs during the height of the country's golden era of music. But it was short-lived: a brutal civil war began, musicians fled to all corners of the world and the vibrant music scene came to an end. Somali Night Fever tells the story of the people keeping Somali music alive, including two best friends separated by war.
Directed, filmed and edited by Rachel Clara Reed
Produced by Megan Iacobini de Fazio
Animations by Joseph Pierce
Music for Mushrooms
Premiering fall 2024, Music for Mushrooms sets out to examine the logic and mystery of why music is so potent in impacting personal transformation, and to better understand the modern psychedelic movement - culturally, musically, socially and psychologically.
Directed by, co-written and music by East Forest
Produced by Lewis Kofsky
Edited and co-written by Rachel Clara Reed
The Long Walk
In 2020, Sindhi-American activists Fati Gul and Sufi Laghari found themselves locked down in their Washington D.C. apartment during the pandemic, grieving for their homeland—the Sindh province of present-day Pakistan—where the pandemic was exacerbating already dire living conditions for Indigenous Sindhis. Reminded of their mortality amidst a pandemic, they decide on their biggest action yet: a 350-mile walk from NYC to Washington D.C. Along the way, they are forced to ask themselves: what are the limits of sacrifice?
Directed, filmed and edited by Rachel Clara Reed
In collaboration with activist Fati Gul and the Sindhi Foundation
Decolonizing roller derby? Team Indigenous takes up the challenge
Meet Team Indigenous, whose members represent Indigenous communities in Canada, the United States, South America, and New Zealand, as they compete in the 2018 Roller Derby World Cup for the first time.
“When I talk about decolonizing roller derby, I talk about recognizing that opportunity and access exist in roller derby only for white privileged American and European people,” said team founder Melissa Waggoner.
Full story for The New York Times here
Photos and videos by Rachel Clara Reed
Written by Harriet Constable
Coyolillo’s carnival
Beginning in the 16th century, about 200,000 enslaved people from Guinea, Congo, Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Fasso and other African countries were shipped to Mexico by the Spanish, many through Veracruz's port. It is believed that the first inhabitants of Coyolillo were freed slaves, who had worked at sugarcane plantations in the region. As one version of the story goes, the enslaved were given one day off a year to rest, which they would turn into a celebration. 150 years later, this tradition of celebration continues in the form of a week-long Carnival, uplifting the heritage of Afro-Mexicans, who have been historically marginalized.
A short documentary for Atlas Obscura
Directed, filmed, and edited by Rachel Clara Reed
Transportation turned performance art: Nairobi’s matatu crews
It’s impossible to live in Nairobi and not have all of your senses bombarded daily by the privately owned buses, or matatus, that feature themed graffiti designs, bumping music, and meticulously dressed crew members performing death-defying stunts. Transportation turned performance art, matatus have shaped Nairobi’s urban culture and identity since independence.
“The matatu is an icon in Nairobi,” said self-proclaimed matatu ambassador Brian Wanyama. “It’s not just grafitti on the walls. It’s not just the car. It’s everybody and everything. Even the city around the matatu is part of the whole affair.”
Full story for The New York Times here
Words, photos and videos by Rachel Clara Reed
Trash to treasure: the spectacular glasses sculpted from trash
Kenyan artist Cyrus Kabiru transforms scrap metal into intricate eyewear that he calls C-Stunners, “pushing the boundaries of conventional craftsmanship, sculpture, photography, design and fashion.”
A mini documentary for BBC Reel, shown around the world in the Real to Reel Craft Film Festival
Directed, filmed and edited by Rachel Clara Reed