HWS News
8 January 2026 • Alums Where Power and Survival Collide: 'Dissection Day'
A tense and haunting short film by Rachel Thomas-Medwid ’91, P’23 transforms a college biology lab into a chilling exploration of power, trauma and survival.
Rachel S. Thomas-Medwid ’91, P’23, an award-winning filmmaker known for her distinctive voice in independent cinema, continues to gain national attention. Her latest short film, Dissection Day, will screen at Dances With Films New York on Friday, Jan. 16, in New York City.
In Dissection Day, a traumatized college student is paired in a biology lab with her assailant, turning a routine pig dissection into a battleground that blurs the line between reality and a dark fairytale.
Promotion for the film’s release touts Thomas-Medwid’s character-driven films that explore power, psychology and the darker edges of human connection. Her work has earned accolades across the festival circuit, including Female Filmmaker of the Year at the Austin Revolution Film Festival, recognition as an International Screenwriters’ Association Top 25 Screenwriter to Watch and multiple directing and short-film awards for projects such as The Squirrels in the Attic, In the Company of Crows, Penny and Fenwick. With Dissection Day, she continues that tradition of thoughtful, provocative storytelling.
"The core of the story is how easily violations of consent are minimized or reframed, especially in spaces that claim objectivity or authority," Thomas-Medwid says. "I wanted to use genre and surrealism to externalize that quiet dread—how a body can remember what the world can explain away."
Dances With Films New York is widely respected for championing bold, original voices in independent film, offering a platform for filmmakers whose work challenges convention. Screening at the festival places Dissection Day among a curated slate selected for strong vision and originality.
Reflecting on her creative path, Thomas-Medwid credits her undergraduate experience at Hobart and William Smith with laying the groundwork for her career. “HWS encouraged me to think critically, take creative risks and trust my instincts,” she says. “Those lessons still guide me every time I write or step onto a set.”
She will be taking her filmmaking knowledge back to campus to teach a mini class from at Reunion, June 5-7, titled “Monsters, Metaphors, and the Female Gaze: Storytelling through Horror and Transformation.” The course explores how horror and psychological thrillers can illuminate deeper truths about identity, repression and transformation. Drawing from Dissection Day, Thomas-Medwid will discuss the craft of building atmosphere, character and tension through a genre lens and how empathy and subversion drive her storytelling.
Graduating cum laude in English, she was a member of the Koshare Dance Collective, now Kinetic Dance Collective. Outside of directing, she is the news editor and media relations representative for the American Meteorological Society. Thomas-Medwid serves on the board for the Women in Film & Video New England and previously served on the Sherman Oaks Film Festival Filmmakers Board, the Film Invasion Los Angeles Filmmakers Board and as a screenplay judge for Renegade Film Festival.
Other HWS alumni in her family include her husband, William Medwid ’90 and her daughter, Madison Medwid ’23.
