MOLLY RATERMANN is a writer and director originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. With a passion for history and counterculture characters, Molly's storytelling is marked by a nostalgic and eccentric spirit. She embraces traditional elements with a modern, playful approach, exploring generations of female identity and the American Dream while infusing adventure and offbeat nuances to create commercially viable films with an indie spirit.

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Most recently, she completed THE COSMOPOLITAN WEST, a western she wrote and directed which was inspired by true events in the West surrounding gender, feminine standards and gender equality told as a quirky yet grounded adventure in the 1889 Wild West. The film was requested for a special, sold out, screening at the Autry Museum Los Angeles in the Wells Fargo Theater, Fall of 2022. It premiered at Pioneertown Film Festival, further screening at Oscar Qualifying, LA Shorts International Festival, Burbank International Film Festival and winning Twin Cities Film Festival. 

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In 2018, she was hired by a London based production company, Film Soho, as Head of Development, developing a variety of projects, including her own WWII feature, M.I.A.B., working closely with writer Kevin Hood (Becoming Jane). 

In partnership with Studio Soho, she was hired to direct and conceptualize the pilot for the docuseries DRIVING WITH ZOE,  a quirky, vintage car rally through little known countries with a bare minimum crew of three.

 

Her debut short, SUICIDE, which she wrote and directed, won 24 awards and comedically dealt with the three opposing forces around suicide.

 

After directing a variety of shorts and web series, including LIZZIE LOST, FOR THE RECORD, FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY and others, Molly was brought on to direct COMMUNE, a dramedy series surrounding the lives of an ethnically diverse modern commune modeled after the black Freedman towns of the 1800s. 

 

In 2020, she wrote and directed LOVE CHUM, originally made for FX’s CAKE. Although it was ultimately cut before airing, it won Best Comedy Short at Austin Comedy Film Festival. 

 

Currently, she is packaging the feature film of THE COSMOPOLITAN WEST and PEARL, a love story between a chaotic grandmother and a loving granddaughter dreaming of escaping her conservative small town.

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AWARD HIGHLIGHTS:

 

• BEST SHORT for THE COSMOPOLITAN WEST at Twin Cities Film Festival

• BEST COMEDY for LOVE CHUM at Austin Comedy Film Festival

• BEST FEMALE FILMMAKER for SUICIDE at Chander International Film Festival

• BEST DIRECTOR for SUICIDE at the Los Angeles Film Awards

• BEST COMEDY for SUICIDE at New York State Film Festival 

• BEST COMEDY TV PILOT SCREENPLAY for PRIESTLY at Oaxaca Film Festival