Introduction
Allison Stevens (she/her) is a queer, feminist filmmaker, visual artist, and comedic storyteller from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Her art has been displayed in group exhibitions in Manitoba. Her films have played at festivals across Canada, in the US and UK, and broadcast on CBC’s “Canadian Reflections.”
Art That Heals
Making art allows Allison to make meaning out of trauma and create beauty out of pain. Her artistic practice is a practice of healing.
Allison believes she was given creative gifts in this life for the purpose of helping others heal and grow. To do this, she endeavours to be honest and authentic and accept herself despite her imperfections.
She tries to set an example of resilience, by demonstrating that it’s possible to relinquish one’s own fears and persevere through hardship.
Goals
Through her art, Allison seeks to stimulate thoughtful reflection, nurture empathy, and encourage kind action in the world.
This screenshot from “Love Starved: More Than Fat” shows Allison’s superpower: creativity.
Artistic Themes
With raw vulnerability, she explores themes of identity, self-acceptance, trauma, spirituality, capitalism, and dogs.
Mediums
The needs of the story dictate her style and choice of medium.
She will use digital video, analog film, stop motion, 2D animation, paper cut-outs, coloured markers, articulated figures, wind-up toys, and whatever strikes her fancy.
Education / Training
Allison has a Digital Media Design diploma (2013) from Red River College and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Winnipeg (2010).
She is an alumni of Creative Manitoba’s 10-week program, “The Art of Managing Your Career” (2025) and Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art (MAWA)’s year-long “Foundation Mentorship Program” (2019).
Allison has taken an abundance of workshops (40+) in the past 10 years. She has learned techniques from industry professionals from all areas of filmmaking, including screenwriting, directing, cinematography, sound recording, editing, animation, and more.
Collaborations
Due to her tendency to create in nothing except her underwear, alone in the basement at 2 am, Allison is usually responsible for all stages of production. She is open to collaboration, however, and is even willing to put pants on!
Always an Artist
Allison started drawing at a very early age. Her natural aptitude for all-things-art lead her to play with all kinds of mediums.
As a toddler, her mom even caught her drawing on her older brother’s face as he slept.
The Beginning of the Filmmaking Journey
Allison bought her first video camera in 2008 for the purposes of recording her ghost-hunting adventures with her friends. It was a used mini-DV camcorder that had excellent night vision.
She looked through the viewfinder, discovered the joy of filmmaking, and the course of her life changed. Every aspect of the creative process enthralled her, including crafting the story using the old school video editor Windows Movie Maker.
Cameras in hand, Allison and her friends started exploring old, historical, potentially abandoned locations across Manitoba.
In this photo from 2009, Allison peaks through the windows of an abandoned building in the RM of Sprague. Allison and her friends were on an adventure to find the headless ghost that roams the train tracks of Woodridge, Manitoba.
Allison’s spiritual beliefs are sometime explored in her creative works.
This is a digital collage that Allison made in 2012, as a student in the Digital Media Design program at Red River College. It is an homage to her early ghost-hunting days.
Connect with me!