Biography

Rachel is a New England based award-winning screenwriter, director, and producer. Some of her recent honors include the Women in Horror Award, Happenstance Horror Festival; Best Writer/Director, Austin Revolution Film Festival; ISA Top 25 Screenwriter to Watch; recipient of The Michelle Mower Female Filmmaker of the Year Award; Best Narrative Short Film Director, Mystic Film Festival; Shawna Spirit Award Winner, Shawna Shea Film Festival, and recipient of the Female Filmmaker Award at the Lonely Seal International Film Festival for her film The Squirrels in the Attic, which was taken to the Cannes Film Market during the Cannes Film Festival. The film screened at 17 festivals worldwide and won numerous awards.

Influence, Rachel's Grand Prize Winner of the Emerging Screenwriters Shoot Your Short Contest, premiered at the Academy-Award Qualifying New Hampshire Film Festival, screened at the Atlanta Horror Festival, and was a Recurring Nightmares Nominee at Nightmares Film Festival. Her newest short screenplay On the Last Day was a top 15 finalist in the 2022 Short Scripts Short Film Fund, a Screencraft Short Screenplay Contest semi-finalist, WriteMovies 2022 Screenwriting Contest semi-finalist, Hollyshorts Screenplay Contest quarter finalist, and won best screenplay in the Hollywood Art and Movie Awards.

In the Company of Crows, for which she was finalist for the New England Film Star Awards, has screened at over 18 festivals to date, winning multiple awards and nominations and is in the running for $25,000 in the Haydenfilms Institute 5.0 film festival.

Her film Penny has earned multiple nominations and awards to date, including the Women in Horror Award, Happenstance Horror Festival; Tobe Hooper Genre Award, Austin Revolution Film Festival; Best Writer/Director, Austin Revolution Film Festival; Winner, Best Short Thriller, American Filmmatic Arts Awards: and Best Director, Short Film: Cine Paris Film Festival.

She was recently one of ten filmmakers accepted into the competitive Northeast Filmmakers Lab and Pitch Contest and participated in the intensive three-day lab in November 2023.

Rachel is a Board Member of Women in Film Video New England, a member of the Alliance of Women Directors, and has served on the Sherman Oaks Film Festival Filmmakers Board and the Film Invasion Los Angeles Filmmakers Board.

- IMDb mini biography by: Rachel S. Thomas-Medwid

Rachel S. Thomas-Medwid is an award-winning genre director, screenwriter, and producer who loves exploring the darker side of humanity and complex nature of people. Recently named the 2024 Female Filmmaker of the Year at Austin Revolution Film Festival, she is an ISA Top 25 Screenwriter to Watch and the Grand Prize Winner of the Emerging Screenwriters Shoot Your Short Contest.

Her short films-The Squirrels in the Attic, In the Company of Crows, Penny, Cult, One Room, and influence-have screened at over 50 film festivals worldwide, garnering over 50 nominations and 20 awards collectively to date. Fenwick, the latest short she wrote and directed, is in post production and scheduled for release in early 2024.

A few other top recognition include the Women in Horror Award, Happenstance Horror Fest; Michelle Mower Female Filmmaker of the Year Award; Best Narrative Short Film Director, Mystic Film Festival; Best Writer/Director, Austin Revolution Film Festival; Shawna Shea Film Festival Spirit Award Winner; and New England Film Star Awards Finalist.

Rachel is an Alliance of Women Directors Member and Board Member of Women in Film Video New England. She has served on the Sherman Oaks Film Festival Filmmakers Board and Film Invasion Los Angeles Filmmakers Board and is a screenplay judge for Renegade Film Festival.

- IMDb mini biography by: Rachel S. Thomas-Medwid