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Directora
The First Female Filmmaker: Alice Guy-Blaché
Season 1, Ep. 1
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On the very first episode of Directora, host and creator Stephanie Weber introduces herself and the premise of the entire podcast. This podcast celebrates the history of women in film, so it is only fitting that we start with the very beginning of the film industry and the woman believed to be the first female filmmaker in the world.
Her name was Alice Guy-Blaché, and she went from being an employee at a camera company in France to the writer, director, and producer of over 1,000 films. Yes, you read that right! She even made films in America in the early 1900s, when her film company set up a second location in the budding East Coast film industry in the United States. Her breakthroughs include the first narrative films, feminist satires, and films featuring the first all-Black casts. This is the astounding story of Alice Guy-Blaché, her contributions to cinema as a whole, and what happened to her towards the end of her life. While many of her films are lost to time, there are several that remain. Please follow us on Instagram (directora_podcast) and TikTok (directorapodcast) to see clips of her films as well as promotional posters and still images.
Welcome to Directora! I'm so happy you're here.
Special thanks to friends Joel Walkowski, John Campogna, Jeff LaPenna, Veronica Hetschinof, Marissa Hansen, Emily Roscoe Jones, Brock Alter, and Alex Van Beek for answering my questions up top. Thank you to Daisy Eagan for editing my script and to Amanda Rossman for the final sound mix. Special thanks to Brock Alter for the art and tech help. It took a village to make this first episode of Directora!
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