Heather Rae

Birth : 1966-10-01, Venice, California, USA

History

Heather Rae is an American film and television producer and director. She has worked on documentary and narrative film projects, and is best known for Frozen River, Trudell, and Tallulah. Wikipedia

Profile

Heather Rae

Movies

Fancy Dance
Producer
Since her sister’s disappearance, Jax has cared for her niece Roki by scraping by on the Seneca-Cayuga Reservation in Oklahoma. Every spare minute goes into finding her missing sister while also helping Roki prepare for an upcoming powwow. At the risk of losing custody to Jax’s grandfather, Frank, the pair hit the road and scour the backcountry to track down Roki’s mother in time for the powwow. What begins as a search gradually turns into a far deeper investigation into the complexities and contradictions of Indigenous women moving through a colonized world and at the mercy of a failed justice system.
Bull
Producer
In a near-abandoned subdivision west of Houston, a wayward teen runs headlong into her equally willful and unforgiving neighbor, an aging bullfighter who's seen his best days in the arena; it's a collision that will change them both.
For The Love of Rutland
Executive Producer
In 2016, Stacie is barely scraping by in the small city of Rutland, Vermont. Manufacturing jobs have moved out, the opioid crisis has moved in and the working poor are at their breaking point. Stacie collects bottles to stretch her husband’s unemployment benefits, while she raises her kids and keeps herself off heroin. So when Rutland’s mayor takes the controversial step of accepting 100 Syrian refugees as part of his economic diversification plan, Stacie is torn. With so few jobs and government resources available to the people who already live there, residents begin to split along xenophobic and compassionate lines. Invalidated all her life for her poverty and addiction, Stacie could just as easily succumb to the white rage that crystallizes around her as identify with the intense daily struggles she shares with the incoming refugees. Nuanced and passionate, this fascinating look at a town divided reveals an unlikely hero caught in a flashpoint of Trump’s America.
Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen
Self
A documentary portrait of the pioneering indigenous filmmaker and activist Merata Mita and an intimate tribute from a son about his mother that delves into the life of the first woman from an Indigenous Nation to solely direct a film anywhere in the world. Known as the grandmother of Indigenous cinema, Merata’s independent political documentaries of the 1970s and 80s highlighted injustices for Māori people and often divided the country. Mita was fearless in her life, her activism and her art. Chronicling the director’s journey to decolonize the film and television screens of New Zealand and the world, the film documents her work, her early struggles with her family and her drive for social justice that often proved personally dangerous.
Your Name Isn't English
Executive Producer
Each time Tazbah, a young professional woman gets into a ride-share car she takes on the unexpected role of becoming a free history teacher as her drivers struggle to pronounce her name.
Dude
Producer
Four best friends negotiate loss and major life changes during the last two weeks of high school.
Wind Walkers
Heather Samuelson
A group of friends and family descend into the Everglades swamplands for their annual hunting trip only to discover that they are the ones being hunted. A malevolent entity is tracking them and they begin to realise one of their party may be possessed by something brought home from a tour of duty in the Middle East – a demon of war so horrible and deadly they are unaware of its devilish presence. Or are they facing something even more unspeakable, a legendary Native American curse about to unleash its dreadful legacy of thirsting for colonial revenge by claiming more souls?
Among Ravens
Producer
The story of a group of friends who reunite for their annual 4th of July weekend only to be confronted by Chad, a strange and beautiful nature photographer who begins to change their lives one by one.
I Believe in Unicorns
Producer
Follows the lyrical journey of an imaginative teenage girl who runs away from home with an older punk rock drifter, but not even unicorns can save her now.
Ass Backwards
Producer
Two best friends embark on a cross country trip back to their hometown to attempt to win a pageant that eluded them as children.
Apache 8
Executive Producer
This is the story of the courageous all-female Apache 8 firefighting unit which has protected their reservation and responded to wildfires around the nation for 30 years. This group, which recently became co-ed, earned the reputation of being fierce, loyal and dependable--and tougher than their male colleagues. Despite facing gender stereotypes and the problems that come with life on the impoverished reservation, the women became known as some of the country's most elite firefighters. The film focuses on four women from different generations of Apache 8 crewmembers who speak tenderly and often humorously of hardship, loss, family, community and pride in being a firefighter.
Magic Valley
Producer
As one warm October day unfolds, the sleepy town of Buhl, Idaho will never be the same. A fish farmer finds his crop destroyed, a couple of kids are playing an unusual game in the sun-dappled fields, and after a wild party a sleepless teenager is harboring an awful secret….
First Circle
Director
Filmmaker Heather Rae trains her lens on America's foster care system and the plight of children whose families can no longer provide proper support.
Asylum Seekers
Co-Producer
Six people on the verge of a breakdown decide to check themselves into an insane asylum, only to discover there is just room for one.
Shimásání
Producer
In 1934 on the serene Navajo reservation, Mary Jane spends her time daydreaming and tending to her family's flock of sheep. When her older sister returns from boarding school with a world geography book, she reveals new worlds that are "just over the mountain." Conflicted by her obedient nature and her curious imagination, Mary Jane must privately decide to either maintain her lifestyle or depart into the exotic unknown.
Frozen River
Producer
Ray Eddy, an upstate New York trailer mom, is lured into the world of illegal immigrant smuggling. Broke after her husband takes off with the down payment for their new doublewide, Ray reluctantly teams up with Lila, a smuggler, and the two begin making runs across the frozen St. Lawrence River carrying illegal Chinese and Pakistani immigrants in the trunk of Ray's Dodge Spirit.
Disappearances
Evangeline Bonhomme
Quebec Bill Bohomme is a hardy schemer and dreamer, who, desperate to raise money to preserve his endangered herd through the rapidly approaching winter, resorts to whiskey-smuggling, a traditional family occupation. Quebec Bill takes his son, Wild Bill, on the journey. Also Henry Coville, an inscrutable whiskey smuggler, and Rat Kinneson, Quebec Bill's perpetually disconsolate ex-con hired man. Together, they cross the border into vast reaches of Canadian wilderness for an unforgettable four days "full of terror, full of wonder."
Trudell
Director of Photography
A chronicle of legendary Native American poet/activist John Trudell's travels, spoken word performances and politics.
Trudell
Editor
A chronicle of legendary Native American poet/activist John Trudell's travels, spoken word performances and politics.
Trudell
Producer
A chronicle of legendary Native American poet/activist John Trudell's travels, spoken word performances and politics.
Trudell
Director
A chronicle of legendary Native American poet/activist John Trudell's travels, spoken word performances and politics.
Christmas in the Clouds
Buffy
A classic comedy of mistaken identity and romance set during the holiday season at a ski resort that is owned and operated by a Native American Nation. Shot on location at The Sundance Resort in Utah, this is the first contemporary romantic comedy to feature an almost entirely American Indian cast. The film was featured at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival.
Backroads
Co-Producer
A lawyer returns to her Cree reservation to defend her sister against murder charges.
Backroads
Diane
A lawyer returns to her Cree reservation to defend her sister against murder charges.