Alison Duke

Founder

Alison Duke is a Canadian Screen Award-winning director, writer, and producer with over two decades of experience in the film and television industry. A passionate artistic activist and co-founder of OYA Media Group, she is known for boldly telling stories of resistance, resilience, and change through both documentary and dramatic storytelling.

Alison first gained recognition with her cult classic debut Raisin’ Kane: A Rapumentary (2000), which won several awards including the HBO Award at the Urbanworld Film Festival. Her early career included producing music videos for leading Canadian urban artists and working as a segment producer and field director on syndicated lifestyle and factual shows before transitioning to socially driven documentaries such as A Deathly Silence (2003) and Garbage: The Revolution Starts at Home (2007).

A signature of her work is a deep commitment to illuminating underrepresented voices. Her acclaimed documentary Mr. Jane and Finch (2019), co-written and co-produced with director Ngardy Conteh George, earned two Canadian Screen Awards in 2020: Best Social/Political Documentary and Best Writing in a Documentary. That same year, she directed Cool Black North, a vibrant portrait of Black Canadian excellence through the stories of 15 Harry Jerome Award winners. The film became one of Rogers’ Top 10 streamed titles in February 2019 and screened at over a dozen U.S. festivals.

In fiction, Alison made a powerful debut with Promise Me (2020), inspired by her earlier documentary The Woman I Have Become. The short film won the Winston W. Moxam Award for Best Canadian Short at the AfroPrairie Film Festival and later received two Golden Sheaf Awards at the 2021 Yorkton Film Festival for Best Direction and Best Scripted Fiction.

Her recent work includes directing the music industry exposé The Big Payback / Paid In Full for Idris Elba’s Green Door Pictures and the feature documentary Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story, which premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival and helped cement her rising reputation as the "#QueenOfMusicDocs." She also executive produced Evil By Design: Surviving Nygard, a 3-part series for CBC Docs that earned a 2023 Canadian Screen Award nomination, and co-directed Black Community Mixtapes, which received three Canadian Screen Awards: Best Photography, Documentary or Factual, Best Sound, Documentary or Factual and Best Original Music, Documentary.

In 2021, Alison made history as the first Black woman to direct a Heritage Minute for Historica Canada. Her longstanding dedication to mentorship and community-building led her to found the OYA Emerging Filmmakers Program in 2018, a three-year initiative to support Black youth transitioning from media school into the film industry. In 2021, she co-founded the OYA Black Arts Coalition, a non-profit organization focused on creating professional opportunities for emerging Black creatives.

Alison holds an MFA in Film Production from York University and is a sought-after industry leader. Her contributions have been recognized with several honors, including the 2019 WIFT-T Crystal Award and the 2024 Hot Docs Don Haig Award for her leadership and mentorship in Canadian film.