Alison Murray facts for kids
Alison Murray is a talented Canadian director who makes films, documentaries, and music videos. She is well-known for writing and directing the movie Mouth to Mouth (2005), which starred Elliot Page. She also directed documentaries like Carny (2008) and Train on the Brain (2000).
Early Life and Education
Alison Murray was born in Nova Scotia, Canada. When she was 15, she moved to London. She studied theatre writing, dance, and how to create dance routines. Later, she earned a master's degree in Film Direction from the Royal College of Art in 1995.
Her Career in Film
Alison Murray has been making great short films that have won awards since 1992, starting with Kissy Suzuki Suck. She has created films for BBC television and other European TV channels. Her work has also been shown around the world, including at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Her films have been presented alongside those of famous directors like Paul Thomas Anderson and Atom Egoyan. The Institute of Contemporary Arts in London and the Tate Gallery have even shown special collections of her short films.
Between 1996 and 2002, Alison directed more than twenty music videos for British pop groups such as The Sugababes, Busted, and B*Witched. She was nominated for awards for Best New Director in 1997 and Best Pop Video in 2003.
Many of her films include her unique way of using dance. In 1995, she received a Paul Hamlyn Award for her choreography. She has also directed two films for the BBC's Dance for the Camera series, where she created the dance moves and directed the filming.
In 2000, she finished Train on the Brain. This hour-long documentary was made for Channel 4 and TVOntario. For this film, she rode trains across North America, using a DV camera and a Super 8 camera to film her journey. In 2003, Alison worked with London rapper Jonzi D to create Aeroplane Man. This film was based on Jonzi D's popular theatre show.
Mouth to Mouth was her first full-length movie as both a writer and director. It first showed at the San Francisco International Film Festival. It then won Best Feature awards at the Brooklyn International Film Festival, Berlin's Britspotting Festival, and Festival D'Annonay in France.
She also produced and directed a documentary about carnival workers called Carny. This film was shown on the Sundance Channel, Channel 4, and TVOntario. It won the Diane Seligman Award for Best Documentary at the Brooklyn International Film Festival in 2008. Her feature documentary Caprichosos de San Telmo (2011) was filmed in Buenos Aires and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
As of 2020, Alison Murray is working on a new fictional movie called The Vegas. She is also developing a TV drama series called ATISIMA.
Film Themes
Alison Murray's films often explore groups of people with unique ways of life, sometimes called subcultures.
- In her movie Mouth to Mouth, a teenager runs away from home and joins a youth group in Europe.
- Train on the Brain tells the stories of young people who travel by train.
- Carny explores the lives of people who work at carnivals.
Personal Life
Alison Murray is a dancer and teacher of Argentine tango. In 2014, she and her husband, Carlos Boeri, won first place at the Campeonato Metropolitano de Baile de Tango de Buenos Aires competition.
