Allister Gall

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Dr Allister Gall

 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7732-4156

    Accepting PhD Students

    Overview

    Profile summary

    I am an artist-filmmaker and educator whose work investigates place, community and the ecologies of the moving image. My films, installations and research projects draw on collaborative, participatory and experimental methodologies, with a particular focus on socio-participatory filmmaking, archival practice and contemporary re-imaginings of Imperfect Cinema. I am also interested in how evolving tools and production cultures can expand the possibilities of moving-image storytelling.
     
    My research has received national and international recognition, with support from the BFI, The Box and the AHRC IAA. My work has been exhibited, screened and published internationally across galleries, festivals and research platforms. Recent film projects include A Film for Gwynfi (2025); RE/POSIT/ORY (2024), a BFI-commissioned five-screen installation interrogating archival bias and now accessioned into The Box’s permanent collection; and STADE (2022), exhibited as part of Because the Night Belongs to Us.
     
    I am co-founder and co-director of Imperfect Cinema, a long-running collective recognised as a practice research environment. Through more than 800 collaboratively produced films and over 100 public events, our work operates at the intersection of film, heritage, environmental humanities, civic research and digital cultures.
     
    I contribute to postgraduate research through supervision, external examining and research symposia. My current work focuses on developing film projects for cinema, gallery and multi-platform environments, alongside new interdisciplinary projects in archival return, civic storytelling and experimental approaches to contemporary filmmaking.

     

    Professional memberships

    Associate Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (HEA)

    Supervised research degrees

    "Safe Space: A novel and critical study into the participatory culture in fandom and a historiographic approach to the fragmentation of popular culture in select novels by Kurt Vonnegut and Thomas Pynchon"
    Awarded 2025

    Teaching interests

    Allister teaches on the BA (Hons) and MA Filmmaking programmes, focusing on short filmmaking, Imperfect Cinema (experimental and punk process-based film practice) and Film Production, the major undergraduate final film project. He draws on wider experience teaching creative moving-image practice, screenwriting, directing and screen performance across MA Creative Writing, Media Arts and film programmes. His teaching supports students through research and context, idea development, directing, visual and sound strategies, post-production, documentary practice and experimental/process-led filmmaking, alongside the supervision of major final film projects. He also incorporates approaches influenced by contemporary film practice, poetic documentary and experimental and dramatic forms of filmmaking. 
     
    In addition, Allister supports postgraduate research and has supervised Ed Whitfield’s PhD in Creative Writing to completion (2025), a project combining a novel with a critical study of participatory culture in fandom and the historiographic fragmentation of popular culture through Kurt Vonnegut and Thomas Pynchon. He is also Director of Studies for Patrycja Loranc, whose PhD practice-based research explores neurodivergence, sensory experience and experimental filmmaking methods.

    Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

    In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

    1. SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
      SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being
    2. SDG 4 - Quality Education
      SDG 4 Quality Education
    3. SDG 5 - Gender Equality
      SDG 5 Gender Equality
    4. SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
      SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy
    5. SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
      SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
    6. SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
      SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
    7. SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
      SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities
    8. SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
      SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
    9. SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
      SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
    10. SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals
      SDG 17 Partnerships for the Goals

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    Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

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    • 3 Organising, hosting and/or delivering a workshop, seminar, course