Writer, director, producer Rachel Beaulieu, born in Sandy Bay First Nation, began her career after graduating from media production at Assiniboine Community College in 2010. Rachel’s passion for the industry started in childhood, creating and directing plays with neighborhood children and doing photo shoots with siblings on disposable cameras. Most of her career has been as a broadcast video editor where she has worked on award-winning Canadian television shows and documentaries. Rachel’s debut film, Red River Roots follows Jesse Carriere whose connection to his Red River roots goes back over a century. The film follows Jesse on a spiritual journey to Batoche, Saskatchewan to bring his uncle a piece of home.
In her role in publishing and communications at Manitoba First Nations Resource Centre Rachel creates original content for cultural and educational purposes. She is currently working on a documentary about Wilfred Buck, MFNERC Science Facilitator and all around “Star Guy” and his goal to find and fill the sky with his culture’s lost constellations.
In 2018, Rachel was a finalist for the WIDC Short Works Award where she developed a concept short for her feature film Lightning. Lightning is set during the time of the Korean War, and tells a story inspired by the experiences of Beaulieu’s grandfather who became an army boxer after returning home from residential school.
In 2020 she was selected for the WIDC Story & Leadership program where she developed a new comedy web series, Coupon Kids.
Awards & Nominations
Lightning (feature script)
2021 Emerging Indigenous Writers Award, The Ice Finger Commission, Winnipeg Film Group
2018 Finalist, WIDC Short Works Award, Winnipeg Film Group Edition