Nyla Pictures crafts cinematic, compelling content that reflects the world around us.

Led by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Rachel Pikelny, Nyla creates original work and also collaborates with partners on nonfiction media in a range of formats – films, series, short-form, and branded content.

We are dedicated to advancing producer agency in the documentary industry, and to strengthening the voices of underrepresented communities and storytellers.

Named to DOC NYC and Topic Studios’ inaugural “40 Under 40” List, Rachel Pikelny is an acclaimed documentary producer. Most recently, she wrote and produced two episodes of the Emmy Award-winning WTTW/PBS series Chicago Stories, profiling Mayor Jane Byrne and Pullman. In 2020, she released three independent documentaries: : The Road Up, which won the Audience Award at the Chicago International Film Festival; Represent, which received 1.2 million views during its Independent Lens broadcast premiere; and No Small Matter, an early-education impact film shown in all 50 states and on Capitol Hill.

With Kartemquin Films, she produced The Trials of Muhammad Ali (Independent Lens, 2014), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and won a national Emmy for Best Historical Long-Form Program. She also served as associate producer on A Good Man (American Masters, 2011) about renowned choreographer Bill T. Jones. With Siskel/Jacobs Productions, she directed and produced the short film GRACE (Condé Nast Entertainment, 2018), which was digitally released by SELF and won the award for Best Short Film at the Midwest Independent Film Festival.

In addition to her documentary work, Rachel has directed and produced branded content for companies such as Uber, Manduka, Pepsi, and USAA, and large nonprofits like the MacArthur Foundation and the Chicago Federation of Labor.

From 2016-2020, she co-chaired the Documentary Producers Alliance (DPA). She was a 2017-2018 Impact Partners Producing Fellow and a 2021 CNN/Film Independent Doc Series Intensive Fellow.