After a decade working in film and television, Rachel Bower has found her voice as a documentarian. Choosing subjects of deep personal interest and connection is essential to the documentary process and Rachel does just that, immersing herself, heart and soul, into the process.

In Time Apart: A History of Hope, Rachel gives us a family portrait of a Holocaust survivor who searches for and finds her lost family.

In Fishing for Oil: The Future of Food From Land and Sea, Rachel introduces us to the perils of heedless resource consumption, paralleling the failed cod industry in the Maritimes with the potential for agricultural disaster in Alberta.

In the first part of her career Rachel worked as a camera operator and editor for the Outdoor Life Network action series 16mm. This was followed by a 70 episode stint as camera assistant and Steadicam focus puller for the CBC drama series Edgemont. Relocating to the Maritimes she worked as both a ENG camera operator and sound person for CTV Atlantic.

In recent years, Rachel has moved into producing and directing short stories and documentaries. This year she produced a series of “patient stories” for the IWK Telethon for Children that were broadcast on CTV.

Her Nigerian-based documentary, Akain Wari: Building the Niger Delta, was screened at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa. Her latest documentary Time Apart: A History of Hope is currently on the film festival circuit.

Rachel was proud to be chosen as one of 25 film professionals from across Canada to participate in the “Women in the Director’s Chair” workshop at the Banff Centre for Arts. And she was one of four directors chosen from Atlantic Canada to participate in the director/composer mentorship program though the Atlantic Canada Film Festival Association, the Guild of Canadian Film Composers and Symphony Nova Scotia.

Rachel’s discipline and dedication to her film and video craft came from an unlikely source: baton twirling, where she was a world-class member of her sport. She is a five-time member of the Canadian National Baton Twirling Team and placed seventh in the World Baton twirling championships.

Today Rachel is an amateur tri-athlete and in her spare time produces shoots and edits videos for tri-athletes and clubs in Atlantic Canada.