directing | writing | consultancy (producing)
about me
Rachel Daisy Ellis (1977)is a British/Brazilian film director, producer, educator and writer with an academic background in political science, social policy and participation. She was born in the UK and moved to Recife, Brazil in 2004 where she has lived and worked since, and where her practice as a filmmaker developed.
BACKGROUND
Rachel studied poltical science and spanish as an undergraduate degree which involved spending a year living in Ecuador, where she 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. She went on to do a Masters in Social Policy and Planning in Developing Countries at the LSE in London for which she was awarded a distinction and then worked for two years as a consultant with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bangkok. In 2004 she migrated to Brazil to coodinate an international NGO supporting projects in North and North east Brazil with a focus on human rights, sustainable livelihoods, sexual and reproductive health and the rights of disabled people. During her two years at the organisaiotn she organised the first ever national conference on disability and sexual and reprouctive rights. In 2006 she set up the project FotoLibras that was 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 developing 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 her time running the project Rachel 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 partiaptory approaches to art/eduation. In 2010 Rachel co-founded Desvia with director Gabriel Mascaro with a desire to work on film projects that provoked debate and refelction on contemporary issues and that pushed boundaries in their form and artistic vision.
The first film that Rachel 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 also cowrote the story for and involved the group of young deaf people that she worked with at the FotoLibras project. The film also premiered at IDFA. At this time she 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 screenigns of the film to assist with discussions about the issues and themes rasised by the film. She then went on to produce the next four films directed by Gabriel; August Winds (Locarno comeptition 2014), Neon Bull (Venice Orrizonti Jury Award, 2015), Divine Love (Sundance World Competition. 2019), The Blue Trail (Berlinale Grande Jury Award, 2025). She has cowriting credits on August Winds, and Divine Love. During this time Rachel 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). She 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 Rachel have premiered in A festivals around the world, been distirbuted commercially and received critical acclaim. In 2018 she premiered her first film as director, the short documentary Mini Miss, at True/False film festival that went on to over 40 festival and won several awards. In 2024 she released her first feature length doucmentary EROS that premiered at CPH:DOX in the Next:Wave comeptition for new filmmakers and wnet on to 20 festivals.
PRACTICE
Rachel’s
trajectory is marked by a constant
curiosity and desire to explore the relationship between people, communities and
institutions and the ways that artistic practices – both participatory and
observatory - can be used to shed light on engrained dynamics, promoting deeper understanding about how we
interrelate intimately.
Over the
last 20 years her work has traverssed grassroots socio-economic projects and intra-organizational
learning of large institutions, participatory photography with deaf people and filmmaking,
producing, wrtigin and more recently directing, but also with a deep creative involvement.
Her work as a film producer started with a strong focus on how films can be
tools for social change and political reflection.
As she has transitioned
into directing, the diverse threads of her previous work and experiences have drawn
together organically and are reflected in her practice. The process of the filmmaking
and how that is transcribed within the moving image is at the core of her work.
Alongside a focus on investigating heterotopic spaces – particularly
large-scale institutions that are often so ingrained in society that no-one questions
them. Her films explore the human relationships that develop in these spaces
and how these relationships are impacted by these institutions and visa versa. The films are raw, intimate and often erotic.
“As an
apparatus, or filmic device, I’m interested in filming interactions in these
spaces on the margins of daily life, yet fully integrated into society, where
in the films an element is shifted or rethought in a way that we are confronted
with a new expanded understanding of those interpersonal relationships. Providing
us a reflection o relationships and institutions in general. I am also
interested in how participatory observation can potentialize this process.”
Many of the
ideas that she is currently developing are focused on participatory observation
and draw on her background as a development practitioner working with
participatory methodologies in social and cultural projects, prior to working
in film.
“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."
“Throughout
my career I has been driven by a desire to provoke new thinking about the world
and the challenges that we face as individuals and communities, in a continuous
search to build bridges, challenge stereotypes and create new meaning that can
lead to deeper understanding. I constantly want to push boundaries and do
things in new ways, which is often met with resistance, but I believe that where
that friction lies is exactly where there is most potential for change and new
learning, even when it is not always comfortable.”
.