Rachael Moton is a filmmaker from Philadelphia, PA.
Rachael Moton is a writer, director, and lover of memes. Her fascination with weird indie films and reality television led her to attend Temple University, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film with a concentration in Directing.
In 2019, Rachael was a finalist in the ABC Women’s Production Initiative, where she pitched commercial concepts to studio executives. That same year, her dark-comedy short Dad’s Dead Damnit was selected for the Sundance Ignite Fellowship.
Rachael is currently developing her first feature film, Paper Trail, a dark comedy about performative allyship and gentrification in North Philadelphia. Paper Trail received the SFFILM Westridge Grant in 2019 and was selected for both the 2020 Sundance Talent Forum and the IFP Week Project Forum. In 2021, she was selected for Mural Arts Philadelphia’s Fellowship for Black Artists and TIFF’s Filmmaker Lab. In 2022, she became a finalist for the AT&T and Tribeca Untold Stories program, and her short films screened at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 2026, she was chosen for the Tribeca and Lilly Vital Stories program for her upcoming project, Take Me for a Drive.
Rachael is passionate about telling stories of marginalized people to foster empathy, often using comedy as a bridge for understanding. Alongside her filmmaking, she works as a grant writer at Mural Arts Philadelphia, the nation’s largest public art organization.
If she weren’t a filmmaker, Rachael believes she would be a great reality TV star.
Press
Deadline - Tribeca Studios Partners With Pharmaceutical Company Lilly On Vital Stories Program
The Philly Download - Rachael Moton Is Crafting the Future of Dark Comedy — And She’s Doing It Her Way
In The Know - This Filmmaker Directs Dark Comedies About Heavy Issues Like Grief and Gentrification
The Philadelphia Citizen - 20 Black Artists to Watch
Adobe - Celebrating creativity at 2021 Sundance Film Festival
Filmmaker Magazine - IFP Announces Project Forum Slate for 42nd IFP Week
Filmmaker Magazine - Five Narrative Feature Winners Announced for Fall 2019 SFFILM Westridge Grant
Medium - Meet the finalists for the Fall 2019 SFFILM Westridge Grants
No Film School - Introducing the Sundance Ignite Fellows of 2019
Sundance Institute - Sundance Ignite: Meet the Next Generation of Independent Filmmakers
Sundance Institute - Sundance Institute and Adobe Announce 2019 Sundance Ignite Fellows
Sundance Institute - SFF20 Talent Forum Projects & Fellows for Press Release