DER Filmmaker

Rachel Lears

Rachel Lears is a filmmaker, writer and musician based in Brooklyn, NY. She holds a PhD in cultural anthropology, an MA in ethnomusicology and a Graduate Certificate in Culture and Media from New York University, and a BA in music from Yale University. Her feature documentary Birds of Passage (2010), on Uruguayan songwriters, has circulated in international film festivals, been broadcast nationally in Brazil, and toured Uruguay several times sponsored by the Ministry of Education and Culture. Her video art piece Ethnography of No Place (2008, created with artist Saya Woolfalk) has screened at numerous galleries and museums worldwide. From 2008-2010 she worked as managing editor of e-misférica, the trilingual, multimedia online journal of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. Her interests include documentary film, global popular music, new media, cultural and political economy, teaching, and creative activism. She performs her original music with the band The Mystery Keys.