Alison McAlpine


Alison McAlpine is a Canadian filmmaker and writer living in Montreal, Quebec, best known for her films CIELO and perfectly a strangeness.

Career

Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, she began her career as a poet, playwright and theatre director.
She moved into filmmaking with her first film Second Sight, a cinematic non-fiction ghost story. Second Sight was presented at more than 35 international film festivals, winning the Special Jury Mention at Slamdance 2009. The BBC also commissioned her to make two versions of Second Sight: An Da Shealladh for BBC Alba and Ghostman of Skye for the series Wonderland on BBC2.
CIELO, McAlpine’s first feature documentary, premiered at the New York Film Festival in 2017. The film is about the myths, stories, existential queries and beauty of the night sky as experienced in the Atacama Desert and was released in its final version in 2018. The film has been presented in over 400 international film festivals and cinemas, as well as winning several awards., Named as “One of the 10 best documentaries of 2018” by Esquire and “The best films of 2018…that you didn’t see” by The Guardian, Cielo has also been critically acclaimed by Variety, The Village Voice, The Globe and Mail, and Le Devoir.,,,,
perfectly a strangeness, McAlpine’s first short film, had its World Premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, Official Competition 2024,, its North American Premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, and has since travelled to over 70 international film festivals, playing in 27 countries and winning 19 awards. Notably, it was named to TIFF's annual Canada's Top Ten list for 2024 and received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Short Documentary at the 13th Canadian Screen Awards in 2025., “One of the most cinematic documentaries of the year”, according to Deadline Hollywood writer Matthew Carey, perfectly a strangeness has been shortlisted by the 2026 Academy Awards for Best Short Documentary Film, and nominated by the 2026 Cinema Eye Honors for Best Nonfiction Short Film of 2026.
A 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, McAlpine has taught filmmaking at several universities. She was the Mordecai Richler Writer/Filmmaker in Residence at McGill University and has offered masterclasses at the Scottish Documentary Institute in Edinburgh, among other institutions. She is currently working on several new films and writings.

Filmography

  • 2005: An Da Shealladh
  • 2008: Second Sight
  • 2009: Ghostman of Skye
  • 2018: CIELO
  • 2024: ''perfectly a strangeness''

    Awards and nominations