In her feature directorial debut, Charlotte Glynn moves home to chronicle her sister Rachel’s last year in school. Rachel is a young woman with a developmental disability and the resulting film, RACHEL IS, moves past the safety of political correctness and into the most intimate and honest moments in their family’s life. Rachel is mysterious, funny, difficult and full of contradictions but she wants what most people her age want – to move out of her mother’s house. This dream of independence seems impossible. Rachel can’t be left alone and the social services needed for her to live an “adult life” are unavailable.
Jane, Rachel’s mother is at her breaking point. Rachel is a difficult person and the relationship between mother and daughter is full of fighting and frustrations. Each wants independence from the other but at what cost? What is Jane willing to sacrifice for Rachel to be independent? What happens to a parent when they don’t have the support they need to give their child a good life? RACHEL IS is an observational-style documentary capturing the rawest and most revealing moments of Rachel and her mother’s relationship. Charlotte dives into her family’s life in order to understand how Rachel sees the world and how the world sees her.
The filmmakers have used this documentary to advocate for increased community living options for people with disabilities. To aid in the effort to ensure that critical services are available and to help families prepare for this transition, they have created a suite of discussion guides and resources that can be used in conjunction with the film.
Advocacy Tools and Study Guides
(http://jacktarfilms.com/html_
Please consider consider sharing these resources and the availability of the film to your community and those you serve through internal communications, email lists, and newsletters. Press materials are available here.
(http://jacktarfilms.com/html_
Watch the trailer here (the full film can be bought or rented): Vimeo OnDemand:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/
7th Art releasing: DVD and Screening:
http://www.7thart.com/films/
