The feature film Allen Sunshine is a cinematic experience that carries you through love, loss, tragedy, grief, and unexpected moments of playfulness—emotions that even in their heaviness can remind you what it means to feel truly loved.
Directed by Harley Chamandy, a NYC-based filmmaker raised in Montreal, Allen Sunshine is a heartfelt film that follows Allen, a man coping with the recent and sudden loss of a loved one. An ambient music composer, Allen begins to process his grief, composing melodies that reflect his emotions and experiences. From joyful, lighthearted moments to the weight of sorrow and the struggle to let go, Allen Sunshine captures emotional highs and lows that feel at once both universal and particular.
Through each supporting character the film, Allen Sunshine beautifully portrays the stages of grief in a deeply human way. Playful children offer a kind of innocence, a delivery person brings a type of comfort, and a complex relationship reveals tangled emotions. To my viewing, these connections reflect different steps in Allen’s journey, showing how love, loss, and support intertwine on his unorthodox path.
In preparation of our screening of Allen Sunshine on Wednesday, June 25th, SPACE intern Kelly Saldana spoke to director Harley Chamandy by email.
What initially drew you to this story, and what did you hope audiences would take away from it?
HC: Allen Sunshine started with an image: a man alone by a lake, surrounded by nature, making electronic music with big vintage synthesizers. The juxtaposition of the natural world and the electronic world interested me. I was chasing a feeling. I wanted to make a film about love and what it means to live without it, and then finding it again in new forms.
For audiences, I hope they walk away feeling a little lighter — a reminder about the small things that make life worth living. To understand that choosing optimism is choosing happiness.
For those who haven’t seen the film yet, how would you describe it in your own words?
HC: That’s a hard one. They got to come see it and find out 
Allen’s music seems to shift with the emotional tone of the scenes—for example, it’s light and soothing at the beginning, but grows deeper and more somber during tougher moments in his healing journey. Was that a deliberate choice? Do you think the audience senses that change?
HC: Yes! I’m glad you picked up on that. I worked very closely with Ethan Rose, who composed all the original music in the film. I chose electronic ambient music as it’s the most introspective music. It’s really about Allen and his relationship with the machines and what comes from that.
Each supporting character seems to represent a different aspect of Allen’s healing process. Was it a conscious choice to use these relationships—like the playful children, the nurturing delivery man, and the emotionally complex relationship with the woman—as metaphors for different stages of grief?
HS: Hmm, I can’t say I thought about that, but that’s a nice idea… I think after writing, I realized that these characters all represent a different kind of love. Friendship, Romantic, neighborly love…et cetera. I love that a lot of the writing happens instinctually and then discovering what it means after.
Allen Sunshine screens on Wednesday, June 25 at 7 pm, with an in-person Q&A with director Harley Chamandy. Tickets are $10 and $7 for SPACE members.
