Allan is a veteran of film festivals. He has consulted for some and sat on the jury of the Ontario Arts Council's Media Arts Festivals Projects grants. Similarly, he has jurored for the Toronto Arts Council's Media Artists grants. Allan is available to consult for your festival (e.g. writing funding applications, evaluate and recommend).
Allan has programmed films and organized industry events for a variety of film festivals and organizations:
Schools Program Coordinator
Allan is placing short films from SAVAC's MONITOR program into Toronto high schools and universities. Allan is working with three GTA school boards to include these films in May 2010 Asian Heritage Month activities and into their 2010-11 cirriculum. As he writes study guides (with the input of individual teachers), he is building long-term building relationships between SAVAC and the school boards.
Programmer
CONTACT Toronto Photography Festival (2004-8)
Allan founded and curated the film series at CONTACT for five years. He hosted filmmakers such as Ali Kazimi (Shooting Indians: A Journey with Jeffrey Thomas with Thomas attending), Murray Battle (Notman's Canada), Jean-Pierre Krief (Contact photographer profiles) and Mary Ellen Mark (Haunted Land). CONTACT Films held Canadian premieres of films such as Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye, Satyajit Ray: Negatives, Martin Parr's Think of England, Girl In A Mirror, and Eloquent Nude: The Love and Legacy of Edward Weston and Charis Wilson.
Co-Programmer
Planet in Focus International Environmental Film & Video Festival (2006) Programming included Escarpment Blues starring Sarah Harmer, reception & panel discussion. Helped launched the Green Pitch.
Programmer & Industry Series Director
Allan was one of the festival's programmers of dramatic and documentary films. At the same time, he organized the Industry Series of panels, workshops, networking lounge, screenplay reading and pitch contest. Presented achievement awards to Deepa Mehta, Ann-Marie Fleming and Graham Greene.
Industry Series Director
Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival (2006)
Based on Allan's success with ReelWorld, Toronto Reel Asian hired him to launch its own Industry Series. Allan founded the festival's Industry Series of panels, workshops, and networking lounge; and launched the pitch contest.
Allan has also programmed special screenings:
May 2005 in honour of Asian Heritage Month: the sold-out screening of one episode from this acclaimed series examining the Chinese diaspora around the world through Chinese restaurants took place at the 400-seat Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre and included an extensive Q&A with director Cheuk Kwan and DP Kwoi Gin.
A community event in October 2005 at Nelson Mandela Public School in the heart of Toronto's Regent Park district to show a documentary about gangs and gun violence. Representing the National Film Board of Canada, Allan organized a community screening and assembled a panel to discuss gun violence (during Toronto's Year of the Gun) with the film's subject Gyasi Ferdinand, the Toronto police, community activists and mothers of gun victims.
