Alice Guy-Blaché was a trailblazer in every aspect of cinema. She was the first person to be a film director and writer of narrative fiction films. She experimented with Gaumont's Chronophone sound syncing system, color tinting, interracial casting, and special effects.
From 1896 to 1920, she directed over 1,000 films, some 350 of which survive, and 22 of which are feature-length films.
Guy was one of the first women (along with Lois Weber) to manage and own her own studio: The Solax Company.
In the late 1940s, Guy-Blaché wrote an autobiography, and in 1976 it was published in French. It was translated into English in 1986 with the help of her daughter Simone and daughter-in-law Roberta Blaché and film writer Anthony Slide.
Guy-Blaché was tremendously concerned with her unexplained absence from the historical record of the film industry. She was in constant communication with colleagues and film historians correcting previously made and supposedly factual statements about her life. She crafted lengthy lists of her films as she remembered them, with the hope of being able to assume creative ownership and get legitimate credit for them.
Video by Catherine Stratton, strattonfilms.com.