Personal profile
Teaching interests
Rachel Smith (professional name Rachel Dax) is a Lecturer in Writing, Directing & Producing of both Fiction and Documentary Film. Rachel teaches on a number of modules on both the BA and MA Film courses in the Faculty of Business and Creative Industries.
Rachel has thirty years of teaching experience in an array of educational contexts and has been lecturing in Higher Education since 2015.
She has guided students in understanding the complexities of Filmmaking, combining theoretical rigour with practical insights, and equipping students with the critical and creative tools to navigate the evolving landscape of Film creation and exhibition. Through her extensive experience, Rachel has nurtured aspiring Filmmakers, fostering a deeper appreciation for the art and impact of storytelling through Film.
In her teaching, Rachel is committed to cultivating a culture of respect and sensitivity to issues of diversity, equality and inclusion in the design and delivery of courses, which offers students opportunities to engage with cinema practices, discourses and resources.
Research interests
Rachel is an award-winning Filmmaker, as well as a Writer, Director and Producer of Audio Drama and a Novelist. Her research focuses on using Film, Audio Drama and Literature as a method and tool to explore and disseminate knowledge about LGBTQ+ lives, identities, histories and cultures. She is particularly, but not exclusively, interested in making Fiction Films and Audio Dramas about LGBTQ+ identities and lives, and Documentary Films about Lesbian artists, writers and musicians.
Her 28 minute short Time & Again (2019) starring Dame Siân Phillips & Brigit Forsyth screened at over 65 festivals and won 15 awards, including the Audience Award at OUTFEST LA, where it was shown in Grauman’s Chinese Theatres, Hollywood. It was then broadcast by both BBC Wales and BBC Four in the 9pm slot and was on BBC iPlayer for a year.
During the 2020 lockdown, Rachel wrote In Isolation - A Short Book Of Long Monologues and went on to produce and direct all four pieces as 50-60 minute audio-dramas, including Footballer’s Wife starring acclaimed UK actress Ruth Madoc.
In September 2024, she released her first feature length documentary Greer Ralston – Giving It All To Art. This intimate portrait of a figurative artist is now showing at select cinemas and festivals across the world. It will be broadcast on BBC Scotland in Winter 2025/26 afterwhich it will be on BBC iPlayer for two years.
Her latest collaborative project which she co-produced and directed, Three Thousand Lesbians Go To York (2025) is a feature length documentary about the biggest and longest running Lesbian Arts Festival in the UK. This film was released onto the festival circuit in October 2025, permiering at The Coast Is Queer Festival at University of Sussex, followed by the IRIS Prize Film Festival in Cardiff.
Rachel is also passionate about film exhibition. She travels all over the world screening and talking about her own film projects, as well as searching for films to show at LezDiff – Cardiff International Lesbian Film & Arts Festival, which she founded in 2022.
Research Profile
FILM PROJECTS
3000 Lesbians Go York (2025) 68 min. Director/Co-Producer – Documentary
Giving It All To Art (2024) 61 min. Writer/Director/Producer – Documentary
Angelina (2023) 10 min. Associate Producer, Experimental – Drama
Time & Again (2019) 28 min. Writer/Director/Co-Producer – LGBTQ+ Drama
Angelystor (2016) 3 min. Producer – Horror
A Delicate Love (2016) 18 min. Writer/Director/Producer – LGBTQ+ Drama
Sweet Sixteen (2015) 7 min. Producer – Horror
The Body (2014) 15 min. Producer – Horror Drama
Planet Love (2012) 3 min. Writer/Director/Producer – LGBTQ+ Drama
Caravan Sight (2011) 22 min. Writer/Director/Producer – LGBTQ+ Drama
AUDIO PROJECTS
Footballer’s Wife (2023) 54 min. Writer/Director/Producer – LGBTQ+ Drama
People Like Us (2023) 56 min. Writer/Director/Producer – LGBTQ+ Drama
Dreams O’ New York (2022) 49 min. Writer/Director/Producer – LGBTQ+ Drama
Dressed For Men (2022) 59 min. Writer/Director/Producer – LGBTQ+ Drama
Gabriel (2014) 60 min. Writer/Director/Producer – LGBTQ+ Drama
How I Met My True Love (2013) 30 min. Writer/Director/Producer – LGBTQ+ Drama
FICTION BOOKS/NOVELS
In Isolation - A Short Book Of Long Monologues (2020) – LGBTQ+ Monologues
The Legend Of Pope Joan (2013-2024) Novels [Trilogy] – Lesbian/Gender Queer Historical Fiction
After The Night (2010) Novel – Lesbian Historical Romance
FESTIVAL & AWARDS WORK
2022-25: Founder & Curator – LezDiff - Cardiff International Lesbian Film & Arts Festival.
2022, 2024 & 2025: Festival Judge – Cardiff Mini Film Festival.
2017-2019: Festival Organiser & Programmer – Shropshire Rainbow LGBTQ Film Festival.
2015 & 2018: BAFTA (CYMRU) - Juror for British Academy Cymru Awards.
2015: Front Of House – IRIS Prize LGBTQ Film Festival.
Education/Academic qualification
Philosophy & Theology, BA (Hons) , Heythrop College, University Of London
Philosophy & Religion, MA, Heythrop College, University Of London
Religious Education, PGCE, Institute Of Education, University Of London
Film, MA, International Film School of Wales, University of Wales (Newport),
Drama (Theatre & Media), BA (Hons) , University of Glamorgan