Barbara E. Allen Founder and Executive Director of Middle Passage Films

Her work has been showcased at some of the world’s most prestigious film festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival, the Chicago International Film Festival, The Pan African Film and Television Festival (FESPACO) and others. Her films have won over a dozen Emmy Awards. Her film, DuSable to Obama: Chicago’s Black Metropolis, set new pledge records for PBS.

This practical, long-term experience as a founder and executive director is complemented by a prestigious academic credential: her Knight Fellowship in Journalism at Stanford University. The Knight Fellowship is one of the most distinguished mid-career honors in journalism, awarded to individuals identified as leaders and innovators in their field.

The name of the company is a deliberate and powerful statement, associating her work with “survival, strength, courage, beating the odds and the triumph of the human spirit”.
This is not a brand constructed to meet a market trend; it is a long-standing, mission-driven identity.

Paul Buckner,
Managing Director of Operations

Buckner is a media executive with more than two decades of leadership experience across local, national, and international broadcast organizations. He has led finance, operations, sales, marketing, and production teams for cable, commercial, and public media companies, overseeing the launch and scaling of domestic and international news operations in Washington, D.C. and Dubai for Middle East Broadcast Networks.

A fellow of the NAB Education Foundation and Harvard Business School Executive Education, he remains deeply committed to community engagement and nonprofit service

An award-winning producer, Buckner’s work spans sports, live events, television news, music programming, and documentaries.