Rachel Clara Reed

Rachel Clara Reed is a documentary film editor, director and story consultant interested in the intersections of identity, resilience, grief, personal history, and culture. Based in London, she is a member of BGDM, the Asian American Documentary Network, BIPOC Doc Editors, Across The Cut, the Alliance of Documentary Editors, and the Video Consortium.

Rachel edited, co-produced, and co-wrote the feature documentary All We Carry, which follows an asylum-seeking family from Honduras as they navigate the daily joys and grief of setting up life in a new place, while facing the trauma they carry with them. The film won the Kathleen Bryan Edwards Award for Human Rights at the 2024 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, was a 2024 impact campaign grantee of Subject Matter, won a Spirit Award at Brooklyn Film Festival, and won three awards at El Paso Film Festival: Grand Jury Prize, Best Documentary, and Best Director. Most recently, it won Best Documentary at the inaugural round of the Indies, by Slamdance Group.

A second feature she edited, Music for Mushrooms, with music artist and producer East Forest, is about the power of music, plant medicine, and ceremony in personal transformation. Her short film Somali Night Fever, published in 2019 with The Guardian, 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.

Rachel is also a trained death doula and accredited mediator, and hosts death dinners—facilitated gatherings where participants explore their personal relationships with death and dying—from her home in East London.