Allie Light

Allie Light (May 2, 1935 – September 17, 2025) was an American film producer, director and editor. She notably won accolades by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Allie Light
Born	(1935-05-02)May 2, 1935 Dove Creek, Colorado, U.S.
Died	September 17, 2025(2025-09-17) (aged 90)
Occupations	Film producer, director and editor
Website	www.lightsaraffilms.com

Career

Light was the winner of the 1991 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for In the Shadow of the Stars and the 1995 News and Documentary Emmy for outstanding interview program for Dialogues with Madwomen.^[1] She wrote, directed and produced documentary films with her late partner, Irving Saraf.^[1]

She served on the Media Advisory Panel for the National Endowment for the Arts and was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.^[2][3]

Personal life

Light was born in Dove Creek, Colorado, on May 2, 1935.^[4][1] In 1953, she graduated from Balboa High School and married Charles Hilder before attending San Francisco State University.^[1] Having three children by the age 25 consequently contributed to a nervous breakdown, and she spent time in the Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital at the University of California, San Francisco.^[1] In 1966, her husband, Hilder, died of lymphoma at the age of 32.^[1]

Light married film producer Irving Saraf,^[1] becoming his second wife.^{[citation needed]} The couple formed a professional producing partnership beginning in 1971.^{[citation needed]} Saraf died from Lou Gehrig's disease at their home in San Francisco, California, on December 26, 2012, at the age of 80.^{[citation needed]}

Light died from heart failure on September 17, 2025 in Austin, Texas, at the age of 90.^[4][1]

Filmography

Year	Title	Credits	Notes
1977	Visions of Paradise, Five Films About American Folk Artists: POSSUM TROT - The Life and Work of Calvin Black	Director, Producer
1980	Visions of Paradise, Five Films About American Folk Artists: HUNDRED AND TWO MATURE - The Art of Harry Lieberman	Director, Producer
1982	Visions of Paradise, Five Films About American Folk Artists: GRANDMA'S BOTTLE VILLAGE - The Art OF Tressa Prisbrey	Director, Producer
1983	Visions of Paradise, Five Films About American Folk Artists: THE MONUMENT OF CHIEF ROLLING - MOUNTAIN THUNDER	Director, Producer
1983	Visions of Paradise, Five Films About American Folk Artists: THE ANGEL THAT STANDS BY ME - Minnie Evans' Paintings	Director, Producer
1981	Mitsuye and Nellie, Asian American Poets	Director, Producer, Editor
1991	In The Shadow Of The Stars	Director, Producer, Editor	1991 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
1993	Dialogues With Madwomen	Director, Editor	Produced and Edited by Irving Saraf
1996	Shakespeare's Children	Director
1997	Rachel's Daughters, Searching For The Causes of Breast Cancer	Director, Editor, Producer, additional camera operator
2000	Blind Spot, Murder By Women	Director, Producer, Editor, additional camera operator
2001	Desert Dogs	Editor
2002	Children and Asthma	Director
2004	Iraqi Lullaby	Editor
2005	Good Food Bad Food, Childhood Obesity	Director, Producer, Editor
2006	The Sermons of Sister Jane	Director, Producer, Editor
2009	Empress Hotel	Director, Producer, Editor
2019	Any Wednesday	Director, Producer, Writer
2025	The Ship That Turned Back	Director, Writer