Rachel Antell received a Masters of Theology
from Harvard Divinity School, and worked for many years on a project researching
religious pluralism and spirituality in the United States. Her production
experience includes two CD-ROMs: On Common Ground: World Religions in
the United States, and Encarta Africana: An Encyclopedia of Black
History and Culture. She is a long-time political activist, and hopes
to use documentary film to affect social change.
Death on a Friendly Border
digital video
26 min.
Death on a Friendly Border explores
the difficulties faced by the thousands of migrants each year in attempting
to make the journey across the border. Since the mid-1990s when the United
States began militarizing the US-Mexican border, an average of one person
a day has died trying to cross into our country. This film attempts to
put a human face on this international tragedy. The film takes place in
three locations; San Pedro Chayuco, a tiny town in the mountains of Oaxaca
from which we follow the story of one woman who attempted to cross the
US desert with her baby; a migrant shelter in Tijuana where people live
in a liminal state having been caught by Border Patrol and waiting to
try again; and in the border region of the US where we hear from a human
rights activist, a Border Patrol Agent, and a citizen who spends his weekends
putting water in the desert.
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- Angelus Award, Los Angeles, Outstanding Non-Fiction Filmmaking, 2001.
- NextFrame Film Festival, 2001.
- Kasseler Dokufilm and Videofest, Germany, 2001.
- FIDEC, Belgium, 2001.
- Providence Women's Film Festival, 2001.
- Laborfest, 2001.
- United Nations Film Festival, 2001.
- San Francisco Latino Film Festival, Best Student Documentary, 2001.
- Slamdance Film Festival,2002.
- Havana Film Festival, 2002.
- DoubleTake Documentary Film Festival,2002.
- San Diego Latino Film Festival, 2002.
- Brooklyn International Film Festival, 2002.
- Edgeworks Short Film Festival, 2002.
- Independent View,KQED-TV, 2002.
- Video-i, KTEH, 2002.
- Worldlink-TV, 2002.
- RTVE, Spain, 2002.
A Fortune in Change
16mm, color film
6 min.
A Fortune in Change is a portrait
of Tracy Gary, a woman who grew up with extreme wealth and has dedicated
her life to giving away her inheritance. The film explores the contradictions
of Tracy's childhood which included parties, private planes, and boarding
school as well as half to three quarters of each month away from her family.
It then follows her evolution into an adult who has dedicated her life
to creating community organizations, breaking the barrier of silence around
class, and organizing other wealthy people to do the same.
FESTIVALS: One Reel Film Festival,
2001.
Film Arts Foundation 2000, Cinequest
11.
Women in the Director's Chair, 2001.
BROADCAST: Broadcast on KQED Independent View, 2000-2001.
Her Own Law
Co-directed by Rachel Antell and Jennifer Petrucelli
digital video
8 min.
Her Own Law is about a woman's
right to choose how and where to have her baby and the ways in which that
choice is threatened. The video explores the practice and philosophy of
homebirth midwifery -- and considers ways in which doctors and midwives
might work together to provide a continuum of care for all women.
FESTIVALS:
Not a Luxury
16mm, black and white film
5 min.
Not a Luxury is a portrait of
two Bay Area spoken word artists, Roxanne Hanna-Ware and Kev the Messenger.
The film focuses on the art form and message of Afrocentric poetry, and
the meaning it has had in the lives of the two artists.