Barbara Allen became a political scientist before becoming a filmmaker. Her work in nonfiction film examines urgent political, economic, and social issues. Signing On: Stories of Deaf Breast Cancer Survivors, Their Families and the Deaf Community won the Twin Cities Film Fest Audience Award in 2011, screened in Berlin at Gebärdensprachfilmwoche 2013, and aired on PBS TPT2 2012-2018. Signing On uncovered the disparities in healthcare access for Deaf people, and troubling facts about US health literacy in general and for all non-majority language communities. In 2018, Allen premiered Actual World, Possible Future: The Lives and Work of Elinor and Vincent Ostrom. The film documents Noble Laureate (Economics) Lin Ostrom’s research showing how ordinary people can tackle global challenges like climate change. The film is scheduled for television broadcast in five episodes for 2020. Allen’s books include a study of lies told in election advertising––the subject of her next film.