Co-Director / Producer, Writer

Allison Smith - Bio (2008)
    A journalist who has spent four years reporting for two of the most successful daily newspapers for their sizes in the Midwest, Allison will make her documentary debut with "Lion in the Street."
    Allison, now based in the Chicago area, met her documentary subject, paralyzed wildlife- photographer David Farber, when she wrote a piece in 2004 about him for The Northwest Herald . He has continued to give her generous access into his life.
    While with the Herald , Allison won the 2005 first place award for best in-depth reporting among daily papers from the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association. The recognition came for her work chronicling a pattern of fatal vehicle accidents on I-90 near Chicago.
    Allison feels her aptitude for finding the heart and context of a story stems from her diverse experiences.
    A native of the Austin area, Allison achieved a Bachelor's degree in Spanish from the University of North Texas, near Dallas. Her journalism endeavors came on the heels of her travels through Europe in 2001. Her journey there ended just after the 9/11 attacks while she was living on Spain's Mediterranean coast.
    Allison worked as a substitute Spanish teacher in the Milwaukee area while she pursued a journalism degree. During her coursework at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she was hired as a reporter on the night police beat at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Her job regularly took her into Milwaukee's most troubled areas. While only required to cover late-breaking news such as murders and fires, Allison also dug into investigative pieces. She broke and followed a tragic tale that made international headlines about an 8-year-old autistic boy who suffocated during an exorcism ritual at the hands of his mother and a pastor. While her work at the Journal Sentinel was not uplifting, it affirmed her appreciation of the daily gift that is life as she nightly watched it ripped from others.
    In spring 2003, she received a second B.A., graduating UWM summa cum laude. Allison is a member of the International Documentary Association and the Illinois Press Association.