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Rachel Sophia Stewart is a professional film editor based in Philadelphia.

This fall Stewart was awarded her eighth Emmy award for her editing on a PSA series promoting access to medical care for women who experience Stillbirth. She was honored to bring to light these women’s stories, with the hope that they help other women access the medical care they need and deserve. Learn more about this awareness campaign at https://www.njstillbirth.org/.

For the past 5 years, Stewart has run 8 by 8 Post Production, a company she founded to put all of her post production experiences to work. As 8 by 8, Stewart has edited, directed, produced and post supervised. 8 by 8 Post is now getting ready to release a short documentary and two accompanying music videos directed by Stewart later this year.

Stewart’s editing specialization is in documentary, and she has spent the last 14 years working in them. Spending 8 years as the senior editor on the 6abc series “Philadelphia: The Great Experiment,” her work has been recognized with eight Mid-Atlantic Emmys, including two for best editing. Outside of Philadelphia history, she has worked on international films in Argentina, Mexico and China.

In the last year, Stewart finished post on 3 documentaries: “Ten Times Better” a 30 minute film following the life of George Lee, which is currently playing in festivals around he country and is set to premiere on PBS nationally at the end of the year. “Still Standing: The Barns of J.T. Wells & Sons” a feature doc following the history of Wells Barns and their renovation and rejuvenation in the 21st century, which premiered on PBS in the spring of 2024. And “Disposable Humanity” a feature documentary following one family’s exploration and reclaiming of the history of the Naxi Aktion T4 program which targeted disabled people. “Disposable Humanity” was recently selected for The Gotham Spotlight on Documentaries.

She is currently involved in post on “Beyond Yellowface,” a documentary following the founders of the Final Bow For Yellowface movement, challenging the world’s leading ballet companies to jettison Asian stereotypes. 

Prior projects include “Beethoven In Beijing” which had its national premiere on PBS in late 2021. And two episodes of a short documentary series for Amazon Web Services streaming now.

She also specializes in post production management, putting those skills into practice, she’s worked as a post production supervisor, assistant editor, and documentary consultant. One of these projects “Man on the Run” a feature documentary following the story of a man who stole billions of dollars from Malaysia - spending the money on things like paying Britany Spears to pop out of his birthday cake - was released on Netflix early 2024.

Stewart’s goal is to be the change she wants to see in this industry… and those changes start with good post production management, an organized and thoughtful workflow, great editing, and end with happy clients. 

Stewart also is helping to usher in the next generation of editors through teaching and is in her forth year teaching advanced courses on editing at her alma mater Temple University.

Film editor, Spanish speaker, martial artist.

In 2024, I have had the opportunity to work with a wide range of new and old clients. It has been a busy and rewarding year, and I'd love to say thank you to everyone I've had the pleasure of working with. Editing is my passion and it is definitely one of the reasons I love waking up in the morning. 

I firmly believe film is able to change the world. And I want to help make the films that will do so. I have a passion for editing and its ability to create new meaning and emotion within a film. I think this is possible in every film, narrative, documentary, and commercial/corporate work. 

While my passion is for editing, I have worn many different hats on and off set, and around the globe, working for companies such as the Discovery Channel, Universal, Esquire Network, Slate.com and on Morgan Freeman’s television show “Through the WormHole.”

My feature documentary “Beethoven In Beijing” took me around the world three times, traveling behind-the-scenes with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Traveling through China definitely presented some interesting problems that needed creative solutions. It was an exercise in flexibility and creativity, two skills I find extremely important to the art of  editing. “Beethoven In Beijing” was  been accepted to eight different film festivals, including DocUtah, Berkshire International, and most fittingly the Classical Arts Film Festival at the Jarvis Conservatory. 

I enjoy candle-lit dinners and conversations about workflow, and project organization. I am highly competitive, enjoy living a cinematic life and am down for a good discussion about the kuleshov effect any day of the week.