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, iNFLUENCE, Teeth, CLAM, When You Know, and Fenwick—have screened at over 60 film festivals worldwide, garnering over 55 nominations and 25 awards collectively to date.

A few other top recognitions 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.

Her newest short film based on the award-winning short script, Dissection Day, recently made the short list for the First Flights and Kodak Short Film Fund Grant and is scheduled for release in early 2025.

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 and Film Invasion Los Angeles Filmmakers Boards and is a screenplay judge for Renegade Film Festival.