Alison Fairweather Murray is a producer/ writer / director. Born in Nova Scotia, raised in England, Murray lived for many years in Buenos Aires before relocating back to Canada. Murray’s latest feature, ARIEL BACK TO BUENOS AIRES, is currently streaming on Amazon Prime, Apple TV and on HBOMAX in Central/ Eastern Europe. It is the story of a brother and sister who travel to Argentina, country of their birth, for the first time as adults. There they fall in love with tango and discover some dark family secrets about their family’s emigration. The film garnered a slew of festival prizes including Best International Feature at SAN DIEGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Best Foreign Feature at ARIZONA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Jury Prize at MUMBAI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Audience Award at the WOODS HOLE FILM FESTIVAL, and played at more than 30 festivals worldwide.
Murray is currently developing the series Cha Cha Cha! with Producer Jennifer Weiss – an energetic half hour dance dramedy in which a repressed gen X, divorcing-in-the-first-episode woman seeks romance through Latin dance. She is also developing the psychological drama series MY LIE based on the book by Meredith Maran. Told across two time lines, MY LIE exposes the impact of Repressed Memory Therapy – considered by many to be “the worst catastrophe to affect the mental health sphere since the lobotomy”. MY LIE taps into the cultural anxieties of the ‘80s while delivering a modern, edge-of-your-seat psychological drama, layered with the moral ambiguity that made Baby Reindeer a phenomenon. Finally, Murray has acquired the rights to PACIFIQUE, a first novel by Sarah Taggart , which she is adapting into a feature screenplay. It’s the story of a love triangle in which one of the participants may not exist, grappling with mental health issues and fantasy.
Murray began directing music videos in the UK in the 1990’s, as well as working on the BBC series DANCE FOR THE CAMERA. Her short films have played in retrospectives at the Tate Gallery London, the Institute for Contemporary Art London, and the Royal Cinema Toronto. Murray has participated in the Berlinale Talent Campus, the Rotterdam Coproduction Market, IFP No Borders and the Ontario Creates International Financing Forum. Her short films have been shown at the Centre Georges Pompidou , Paris, The Tate Gallery, London, and the Royal Cinema, Toronto.
Murray directed two live theatre works, at the Beurs Theatre, Brussels, and Stuc/Klapstuc Brussels. She has also choreographed for the Royal Opera House Garden Venture at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London and contributed the film elements to the theatre work of Marisa Carnesky. She made her first documentary in 2000 with TRAIN ON THE BRAIN (Channel 4/TVO) in which she rode the rails across North America with a group of teenage hobos. She followed up with her first dramatic feature MOUTH TO MOUTH (Best Feature, Brooklyn International Film Festival ). Murray wrote and directed CARNY for the Sundance Channel (Hot Docs, Best Documentary, Brooklyn International Film Festival). She also made the documentary CAPRICHOSOS DE SAN TELMO (TIFF). In 2014 Murray won the Buenos Aires Tango Championship dancing with her husband Carlos Boeri.
View Alison Murray’s director’s reel.
Films
Mouth to Mouth
“Trusting other people will put your ass in jeopardy every time.”
How Sherry loses her virginity, her illusions and her lip ring in a road trip across Europe. Sherry is searching for a place to belong where she can still be herself. She thinks she has found this in SPARK – Street People Armed with Radical Knowledge. She takes off in SPARK’s camper van as they cross Europe recruiting a membership of the down and out. They arrive at a disused vineyard in Portugal that will be their paradise.Harry, the group’s leader, begins harvesting ripe grapes and ready minds through his own methods of hard work and punishment. The stakes are high within this volatile group. Two deaths ensure the submission of most of the recruits – but not Sherry, or the apparently craziest street person, Mad Ax.
Mad Ax is the least taken in by SPARK’s rhetoric. He is also in love with Sherry. Into this Shangri-la comes Sherry’s mother. Failing to persuade Sherry to leave, she decides that SPARK has more to offer than single parenthood in London. Disillusionment complete, Sherry stands up for what she knows is right, denounces SPARK, and escapes with Mad Ax into the unknown.
Train on the Brain
In what’s been called ‘The definitive train hopping doc’, filmmaker Alison Murray drops out of the rat race, grabs a camera, and hits the rails with some punk kids on a trans-continental freight train hopping adventure. On their odyssey they encounter a cast of hobos and runaways, scallywags and castaways. Amidst run-ins with the law, and surviving the perils of the elements, Alison weaves her narrative film over beautifully shot 8mm film and digital video with an old-time sounding soundtrack by Beck.
Train On The Brain was originally produced for Channel 4 in the UK by Hellhound and MJW Productions.
“An intimate, gritty and poetic adventure following the lives of carnies – traveling fairground workers who have abandoned the security of the “real world” for the refuge and variety of the road. Through the eyes of Hairy, the charismatic lesbian cotton-candy seller, we see a world of unlikely Romeos, easy love and fierce friendships that obscure personal hardship and troubled pasts. Often from an underclass that has few options, the carnies struggle with addiction, loneliness, poverty and shattered dreams, finding solace only in the company of their own, who accept them as they are. Some have worked the fairs for more than 50 years, some were born or escaped into it, but all are gripped by the romance of the bright midway lights, lyrically captured captured by director Alison Murray (Mouth to Mouth) in lush interludes of Kodachrome Super 8.” ~ Gisèle Gordon, Hot Docs)
A collaboration with photographer Virginia Lee Hunter, based on her book – Carny, Americana on the Midway.
A portrait of the working class musicians and dancers of Buenos Aires’ San Telmo neighbourhood, who have channeled the city’s many cultural influences into the street performance called murga.
Every year, a taxi driver named Pichi (Hector Roterio) assembles a group of locals to train for the annual parade. At first glance, they don’t look promising. Sergio has clearly led a hard life and has already lost some of his teeth, but turns out to be a surprisingly fluid dancer. Maria Eva tries to hold down an entry-level job, but she comes alive teaching murga moves to the new girls. Under her watchful eye, they practice the murga’s bigbeat rhythms and its accompanying steps. Murga is a remnant of Argentina’s former African communities, but is now practiced by anyone in the neighborhood who can surrender to its pull.
2022 1 hour 36 min Dramatic Feature Canada/Argentina/ Uruguay
Cepa Cine / Hellhound Productions World Sales House of Film North American Distributor Level 33
Ariel: Back to Buenos Aires has now picked up several best feature awards, including SAN DIEGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, ARIZONA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL and LATINO FILM MARKET NYC. The movie also won the Jury Prize at the MUMBAI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL and Audience Award at WOODS HOLE FILM FESTIVAL, and has played at 20+ festivals worldwide.
Now streaming in the US and Canada. AVAILABLE ON HBOMAX IN CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE.
News
Alison Shadows on Murdoch Mysteries!
Alison had a great time shadowing director Craig Wallace on set of the iconic series Murdoch Mysteries.
Murdoch Mysteries is a long running Canadian television drama series currently airing on CBC. Based on novels by Maureen Jennings, it is set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and follows Detective William Murdoch, a police detective working in Station House Number 4 in Toronto.
Alison felt the experience gave her insights into episodic drama that she will need to confidently direct in the episodic space when the opportunity arises. Thanks, Craig!
Alison wins at Series Mania!
Alison Murray and producer Jennifer Weiss return from the recent Series Mania industry event in Lille, France as winners of one of three development prizes. The pair won with ‘Chachachá’, an eight-part dramedic half hour which follows a Gen X woman whose sky-high blood pressure forces her to confront how out of touch with herself she has become. “She turns to Latin dancing – not for fun, but for survival – igniting chaos with her family,” the synopsis runs.
“‘Chachachá’ won us over with its light‑hearted, authentic, and sincere tone. It tackles important universal themes of society with humor. We believe this is exactly the kind of story international audiences need right now,” said Ferdinand Dohna, head of content & co-production at Beta, which partners on SeriesMakers with the Series Mania Institute. Read the full Variety story here.
SeriesMakers Line-Up in Variety
Series Mania and Variety Magazine just released loglines for ten projects in development, including Alison’s own dramedy with producer Jennifer Weiss. Read the full story here.
“Chachachá!” (writer-director Alison Fairweather Murray, producer Jennifer Weiss)
Canada, 8×30’, drama-comedy
“When a Gen X woman’s sky-high blood pressure forces her to confront how out of touch with herself she has become, she turns to Latin dancing – not for fun, but for survival – igniting chaos with her family,” the logline runs. Behind the Apple TV, AmazonPrime and HBOMax-streamed “Ariel Back to Buenos Aires” Fairweather Murray teams with Weiss, producer of movies by Sarah Polley (“Away From Her”), Brian de Palma (“Redacted”), Atom Egoyan (Adoration”) and most lately Molly McGlynn (“Fitting In”).
Alison Murray and producer Jennifer Weiss’ proposed Latin dancing dramedy ‘Chacachá!’ won big Tuesday night (March 23, 2026) at France’s Series Mania, Europe’s biggest TV festival, scooping one of three prizes offered by its biggest industry events. Read the full Variety article here.
“‘Chachachá’ won us over with its light‑hearted, authentic, and sincere tone. It tackles important universal themes of society with humor. We believe this is exactly the kind of story international audiences need right now,” said Ferdinand Dohna, head of content & co-production at Beta, which partners on SeriesMakers with the Series Mania Institute.
The Hollywood Times
“In the midst of Ariel searching relentlessly for answers of origin, the dance never stops. The film includes the most gorgeous Tango scenes of our time… “
Valerie Milano interviews Alison about Ariel for a recent article in The Hollywood Times.
Fairweather Murray comments: “This film tackles the challenging themes of identity and family secrets, enveloping them with the beauty of Buenos Aires and the sensuality of tango. The story reflects my experiences falling in love with tango. At the heart of this film lies the revelation of truth, both personal and political.”
Read the full article in English and Spanish here.
