about me
Rachel Daisy Ellis (1977), British/Brazilian film director, producer, and writer with an academic background in political science, social policy and participation. I was born in the UK and moved to Recife, Brazil in 2004 where I have lived and worked since, and where my practice as a filmmaker developed.
BACKGROUND
I studied poltical science and spanish as an undergraduate degree which involved spending a year living in Ecuador, where I immersed herself in sustainable livlihoods projects with an NGO in Quito and developed skills in participatory methodologies for public policy and social and economic development. I went on to do a Masters in Social Policy and Planning in Developing Countries at the LSE in London for which I was awarded a distinction and then worked for two years as a consultant with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bangkok. In 2004 I moved to Brazil to coodinate an international NGO supporting projects in North and Northeast Brazil with a focus on human rights, sustainable livelihoods, sexual and reproductive health and the rights of disabled people. During my two years at the organisation I organised the first national conference on disability and sexual and reprouctive rights.
In 2006 I set up the project FotoLibras that is a participatory photography project with young deaf people and became a reference nationwide with exhibitions in Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia & beyond, reaching hundereds of young deaf people and involved publishing a Manual for implementing participatory photography projects with deaf people. The project continues to this day under the coordiantion of the young deaf people who went through the project more than a decade ago. During my time running the project I also co-cordinated the first national conference on participatory photography and art education, held in Recife invovling over a hundred teachers and practitioners in the area of participaptory approaches to art/eduation.
In 2010 I conducted the mirrowed waters project, conducting pinhole photography workshops withcommunities along the San Francsico River (https://espelhodagua2015.wordpress.com/).
Also in 2010 I co-founded Desvia with director/artist Gabriel Mascaro with a desire to work on film projects with strong artistic visions that provoke debate and reflection on contemporary issues whilst pushing the boundaries of cinematographic form.
The first film that I produced was Domestica, (Housemaids) directed by Gabriel Mascaro, that premiered in Competition at IDFA in 2012. In the same year she also produced the short EBB & FLOW, which she cowrote and involved a group of young deaf people that she worked with at the FotoLibras project. The film also premiered at IDFA. At this time I also coordinated the produciton of a colletanea of articles inspired by the filme Housemaids including international authors. As well as a resource for teachers to use in schools after screenings of the film to assist with discussions about the issues and themes rasised by the film.
I went on to produce the next four films directed by Gabriel; August Winds (Locarno competition 2014), Neon Bull (Venice Orrizonti Jury Award, 2015), Divine Love (Sundance World Competition. 2019, Berlinale Panorama), The Blue Trail (Berlinale Grande Jury Award, 2025). She has cowriter credits on August Winds, and Divine Love. During this time I also coproduced several films including Rojo by Benjamin Naishtat (San Sebastian, 2018), Prayers for the Stolen by Tatiana Huezo (Un Certain Regard, Cannes, 2021), Legua by Filipa Reis & João Miller Guerra (Quinzainne des Realisateurs, 2023). I also produced the short film Peixe by artist Jonathas de Andrade that was in the São Paulo Bienale in 2016. All the 15 films produced by me have premiered in A festivals around the world, been distributed commercially and received critical acclaim. I am graduate of EAVE - European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs Network (2018).
In 2018 I premiered my first film as a director, the short documentary Mini Miss, at True/False film festival, that went on to over 40 festival and won several awards. In 2024 I released my first feature length doucmentary EROS that premiered at CPH:DOX in the Next:Wave competition for new filmmakers and went on to more than 20 festivals.
PRACTICE
Over the
last 20 years my work has traverssed grassroots socio-economic development, intra-organizational
learning of large institutions, participatory photography with young deaf people and filmmaking; producing, writing and more recently directing.
My work as a film producer started with a strong focus on how films can be
tools for social change and political reflection and a commitment to positive social change and inter-cultural understanding permeates all my work.
As I have transitioned
into directing, the diverse threads of my previous work and experiences have drawn
together organically and are reflected in my practice. The filmmaking process and how that process is transcribed within the moving image is at the core of my work.
I have been
a creative producer and writer for 15 years and in 2017 decided to start directing.
My authorial work has been slowly emerging over the past few years, underpinned
by a constant curiosity and desire to explore the relationship between
individuals and social institutions and the ways that artistic practices – both
participatory and observatory - can be used to reveal engrained social dynamics.
My films
explore the human, and often intimate, side of institutionalised, heterotopic
spaces, places that are often marginalized in daily life, and so integrated
into society that they lie unquestioned. It is only when they are viewed
through the lense of a filmic device/apparatus that sheds a new light on the
space and the way people relate to each other that they are reimagined, and we
are confronted with a new expanded understanding of our relationship to these
spaces. I am also deeply interested in how participation of people in the
filmming process can potentialize these dynamics and revelations. The films are
raw, intimate and often erotic.
My films
explore the human, often intimate, relationships that develop in institutionalised,
heterotopic spaces, spaces that are often marginalized in daily life yet
so integrated into society that they lie unquestioned. It is only when they are
viewed through the lense of a filmic device/apparatus, taht sheds a new light
on the space and the way people relate in them that and an element is shifted
or rethought, and we are confronted with a new expanded understanding of our interpersonal
interactions. I am also deeply interested in how participation of protagoinsts
in the filmming process, in the use of filmic devices can potnetialize these
dynamics and revelations. The films are raw, intimate and often erotic.
The
integration of my academic and professional background into my creative
practice has been key to me understanding my motivations as a filmmaker. It is
an intersection that has clicked into place in the last few years and has
provided me with a solid framework for developing my artistic ideas.
November 2026
.