Pamela B. Green’s energetic film about pioneer filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché is both a tribute and a detective story, tracing the circumstances by which this extraordinary artist faded from memory and the path toward her reclamation.
Alice Guy-Blaché was said to be the first female filmmaker of the 19th century. She was known for creating beautiful narratives, special sound effects, casting interracially, and she even produced a film with an all-black cast which is extremely rare even today for a white filmmaker let alone in the 19th century. Her films, even though a lot were comedic, had very strong subject matters that were ahead of her time, like a take on reversing gender roles where men behaved like women and the women behaved like men. She wrote her own stories and went against the norm, showing characters who displayed more sexual behavior like kissing in public and groping one another. She never formally studied film but learned mostly on her own and she always told her actors to be natural.
The interesting thing about Alice is that no one has ever heard of her. It’s shocking that not even the most renowned filmmakers, actors or professors of film know who she is. She was hardly ever spoken of in her time or even today. There has been very little mention of her here and there, but she never became a household name. What I loved about this documentary is that this was not good enough. The questions that burned through everyone’s mind is who is Alice? And where can we see all of her films? So the next step was to find out who had information on her that could tell us more of her life story in film.
In this documentary, you get to see the breaking down of her family tree, generation to generation. They find her closest relatives who knew of her and may have owned some of her early possessions. They uncovered her old films and go on a journey to have them restored. Alice produced so many films and you get to see some of them which are extraordinary. This makes you wonder how many other women in film or other professions went through life unnoticed for their incredible work contributions to what we have today.
I was truly amazed and thought this was eye-opening, empowering, and a real educational piece. It shows you that no matter what boundaries you believe you have, they can all be broken and surpassed. Definitely a must-see!
In theaters in L.A. April 19th and in N.Y. April 26th
