RACHEL RAIMIST

Dr. Rachel Raimist is a formerly tenured college professor turned television director. She is passionate about stories of women on a mission, smart girls who science it out, messy family stories and teens trying to live their best lives.

 

Raimist has television credits in action, drama, comedy and musicals. She recently directed episodes of the procedural with a twinkle in it's eye, ELSBETH (CBS), the family drama BEL AIR (Peacock), the family fantasy THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES (Roku) and the musical UP HERE (Hulu). She directs drama, comedy, action, musicals, science fiction, fantasy and shows with great stories and good people.​

 

At the Directors Guild of America (DGA), Raimist was the first woman appointed as the Co-Chair of The Special Projects Committee and was appointed as Co-Chair of the Disability Committees by President Lesli Linka Glatter. She was also elected by her peers as the Alt. Co-Chair of the Women's Steering Committee. Her current Guild leadership includes being the Directors Category Rep for the Disability Committee and as a founder of the annual "Women's Day at the DGA" as well as other events that center history-making diverse directors.

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Rachel currently teaches directing through her passion project The People’s Film School and the Youth Cinema Project of the Latino Film Institute as well courses for Sundance, African Creative Television and the Stowe Story Labs. She has taught filmmaking, feminism and storytelling at more than 30 colleges and universities and has filmed and taught in more than 20 countries. She serves on the Advisory Board of Kōawa Studios at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and is Visiting Assistant Professor at Occidental College where she teaches screenwriting and production.

Rachel earned a MFA and BA in directing from UCLA Film School and a PHD in 2010 in the Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies where the Rachel Raimist Feminist Media Center was named in her honor.

 

Raimist is featured in the documentary TEENAGE WASTELAND, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Inspired by an unconventional teacher, a group of teenagers in upstate New York in the early 1990s make a student film and uncover a vast conspiracy that is poisoning their community. Thirty years later, they revisit their film and confront the legacy of this transformative experience. ​

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Raimist has an adventurous spirit, a love of people and wild animals. She has traveled, taught and filmed in: Argentina, Bermuda, Canada, Chile, China, England, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Myanmar, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. The only question is what country are we traveling to next next? She's passport ready. Let's go!