Tracy Rector

Tracy Rector is a multicultural filmmaker, curator, community organizer, and programmer. She has directed and produced over 400 shorts and other films including the award-winning Reciprocity Project series, Outta the Muck, March Point, and Ch'aak' S'aagi. She is in production on her tenth feature documentary SHE CRIED THAT DAY with support from Vision Maker Media.

As an impact producer, Tracy served on the team for the Emmy award winning feature documentary Dawnland, which premiered on Independent Lens’ 2018/19 season to 2.1 million viewers in its opening week. Her work has also been featured in National Geographic, imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian.

In 2005, Tracy co-founder of Longhouse Media, a non-profit that focused on galvanizing Indigenous and local BIPOC communities through film production. From 2005- 2021, they worked with over 50 tribal nations and helped train 3,000 young people in media. In addition, she founded Indigenous Showcase in 2007, an exhibition platform to uplift and amplify creatives and support civic engagement. And in 2015, Tracy established the 4th World Media Lab fellowship in partnership with Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival and Camden International Film Festival.

Tracy has received the National Association for Media Literacy Education Award, 2016 Stranger Genius Award, and the Horace Mann Award for her work in utilizing media for social justice. She is a Firelight Media Fellow, WGBH Producer Fellow, Sundance Institute Lab Fellow, Tribeca All Access Grantee and a Rockwood Philanthropic Fellow. Tracy serves as a Working Films, Multitude Films and Flaherty board member, is a senior programmer at the Seattle International Film Festival, and completed two four year terms as a Seattle Arts Commissioner. And in 2023, FORBES noted Tracy as one of the most influential media makers in television and film addressing the climate crisis.

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Currently, Tracy is a freelance producer and executive producer in addition to the co-Director of 4th World Media and a mother of two young adults.