Bio

Born in Chennai, India, Rama Rau has worked at every level of a film set, sometimes as the only female on massive film crews in Bollywood, India, where she learnt all things filmmaking. And, no, she isn’t developing a show about the Kama Sutra, but talk to her in a few years. Immigrating to Canada, she started making documentaries as a way to express what she was going through herself. She has made several award winning documentaries, including critically acclaimed Opening Night movie for Hot Docs – LEAGUE OF EXOTIQUE DANCERS, about aging burlesque dancers in Las Vegas. She’s also had her first fiction short at the Cannes Film Festival’s Court Metrages. Rau has just finished her first fiction feature HONEY BEE, starring Julia Sarah Stone and Martha Plimpton, winner of the Best Film Awards at the Whistler Film Festival, the Canadian Film Festival and a LEO Award for Julia. Her documentary THE DAUGHTER TREE has been invited by the United Nations to be screened at multiple cities across Europe. Her script for QUEEN, about North America’s first burlesque dancer to shatter race barriers was a Finalist at the prestigious New York Women Writers’ Lab run by Nicole Kidman. Equally at ease directing action or emotional scenes, Rau brings a unique voice to her work as a director of stories with strong female protagonists going through life-changing experiences. She is currently in development on several features and two series.