French actress and director Ana Girardot has brought the mother of French cinema, pioneering early 20th century filmmaker Alice Guy, to dinner. Alice qui??? You might well be asking yourself. And to that we answer: precisely. Alice Guy was all but erased from the history of cinema until recent years, when a handful of biographers and documentarians have done some digging, and shown the world that some of the first narrative films in the history of cinema were written, directed, and produced by a woman. QUOI?? But why have we never heard of her? Why were her contributions to this art form buried for a century? Well…that’s the story of today’s podcast. And who better to enlighten us than one of the brightest stars of contemporary French cinema, actress and director, Ana Girardot. Queue up a case of champagne and a Lipp-style feast, don as many or as few layers as you please, and join us in toasting an inspiring female visionary.

Show Notes:

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Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV | Emma Knight @emmalknight

Ana Girardot @girardotana

The podcast we mention: “Alice Guy,” featuring her biographer, author and historian Janelle Dietrick on Ephemeral from iHeartPodcasts

The Alice Guy short films we mention, available on YouTube:

“La Fée Aux Choux” or “Midwife, First Class” or “Midwife to the Upper Class” (!!), 1902

“The Consequences of Feminism” (we think this is a mistranslation – it should be “The Results of Feminism”), 1906

“The Race for the Sausage,” 1907

Some of the many recent films and articles correcting the record:

“Overlooked No More: Alice Guy Blaché, the World’s First Female Filmmaker” by Manohla Dargis in The New York Times

“Alice Guy-Blaché, Cinema’s First Woman Director in Newspapers,” A 2022 post on The Library of Congress Blog by Amber Paranick

“Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché,” TVO Docs, directed by Pamela B. Green

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