Alice Russell

(She/Her)

Alice’s breakthrough project is the documentary If the Streets Were on Fire.

Some of the best documentaries are the ones that make you sit back and think, questioning your opinions, influences and prejudices. That’s exactly what director Alice Russell set out to do with If the Streets Were on Fire (2022). Filmed over a period of six years, her film sets out to change the narrative surrounding youth crime in London by following the activities of a growing social movement called BikeStormz, which encourages the capital’s young people to express themselves through cycling rather than be caught up in gang culture and violence.

After graduating with a degree in psychology, Alice spent a year working at an ad agency. Watching documentaries with a social and political conscience provided a moment of clarity and inspired her to channel her energy into a more positive career and begin a new life as a self-taught documentarian – “documentaries with a heart felt like the perfect place to do that”. Alice has since worked with the BBC, Channel 4 and Vice News, creating such short and longform documentaries as Men Buy Sex (2015), Agents of Change (2017) and Terra Incognita (2021).

In their own words…

“I wanted to make [If the Streets Were on Fire] because these guys don’t normally get a mouthpiece. They are demonised. They are headlines. They are kids in hoods. But, in some cases, they have also gone through the most insane things and yet have kept this incredible spirit of survival. I wanted to change the stereotype and show who these people really are… While I don’t necessarily think films change the world, I do think they can impact the way you feel and understand things. That’s really important.”