Alison Murray
Directing
Biography
Alison Murray is a Canadian/British screenwriter and director based between Canada and Argentina. In 2020 shooting began on Murray's new feature film Ariel, developed with The Film Farm and produced by Cepa Cine. Production was halted by the global pandemic but completed in June 2021. Murray's documentary Caprichosos de San Telmo, shot on location in Buenos Aires, premiered in the Toronto International Film Festival and continued Murray's tradition of seeking to empower people living on the fringes. Murray's documentary Carny following the secret life of fairground workers, was broadcast on the Sundance Channel, Channel 4 UK and TVOntario. It premiered in the Hot Docs Festival and won best documentary in the Brooklyn International Film Festival. Mouth to Mouth, Murray's fictional feature debut (writer/director) starred Oscar Nominee Elliot Page. The film showcases Murray's signature choreographic style, woven into a powerful narrative about a search for belonging. It premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival and went on to win Best Feature Prizes at the Brooklyn International Film Festival, Berlin's Britspotting Festival, and Festival D' Annonay, France. Train on the Brain was Murray's documentary for Channel 4 UK and TVOntario, in which she rode the rails across North America armed with digital and Super 8 cameras, giving a platform to marginalized youth. Train on the Brain screened to a huge audience at Glastonbury Festival . Murray studied theatre writing, dance and choreography before moving into film. After completing an MA in Film at the Royal College of Art, Murray directed music videos and short films.
Known For
Blood Ties is a Canadian television series based on the Blood Books by Tanya Huff; the show was created by Peter Mohan. It is set in Toronto, Canada and has a similar premise to an earlier series also set in Toronto, Forever Knight, in which a vampire assists police in dealing with crime. It premiered in the United States on March 11, 2007 on Lifetime Television, and during fall of 2007 on Citytv and Space in Canada. In May 2008, Lifetime declined to renew the series.
Blood Ties
A true story of a young woman whose abusive childhood results in her developing a multiple personality disorder.
Sybil
An aimless adolescent joins several itinerant misfits who live on the fringe of society and welcome at-risk youths into their fold.
Mouth to Mouth
Three reunited sisters discover their late father planned one last scavenger hunt - an annual holiday tradition when they were young. As their sisterly bond gets rekindled, they soon learn important lessons about what they want in life and in love.
Every Time a Bell Rings
Argentina-born siblings unearth family secrets when they return to their birth country to dance tango.
Ariel
Psychological drama examining a mental breakdown of an English housewife.
Victims
Newcomer Alison Murray ignites the screen as Ali Silver a Black Ops agent for the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS). When Ali recovers a case containing an assassination plot and a formula for a biochemical weapon, she is sent on an operation to recover the substance and terminate its courier. an unknown terrorist, codename: VALAT. Upon arriving in the peaceful, serene locale of Waterton Lakes National Park she must team up with a local RCMP officer to track the terrorist all the way to the 49th parallel. The stakes are high in this taut espionage flick.
The Haven
Alison Murray travels as a hobo on freight trains across Canada and the US. She gets to know the community of train riders, especially the many girls riding the rails.
Train On The Brain
A young woman leaves a Chinese takeaway where she has been working and get confronted by a pervert with a pair of pants on his head. The woman gains power over him by exposing him to her sexuality.
Pantyhead
Choreographer/Director Alison Murray takes club-style movements, gesture and game-playing as the basis for this celebration of youthful female camaraderie.
Horseplay
A portrait of the working class musicians and dancers of Buenos Aires's San Telmo neighborhood, who have channeled the city's many cultural influences into the street performance called Murga.
Caprichosos de San Telmo
CARNY is an intimate, gritty and poetic adventure following the lives of 'carnys' - traveling fairground workers whose experiences are outside the normalcy of most North Americans.
Carny
The delirious sexual fantasies of two bleached blondes in a car.