Alice Guy-Blaché (July 1, 1873 – March 24, 1968) is generally considered to be the world's first female director. French-born Alice Guy entered the film business as a secretary at Gaumont-Paris in 1896. The next year Gaumont changed from manufacturing cameras to producing movies, and Guy became one of its first film directors. She impressed the company so much with the output (she averaged two two-reelers a week) and quality of her productions that by 1905 she was made the company's production director, supervising the company's other directors. In 1907 she married Herbert Blaché, an Englishman who ran the company's British and German offices. The pair soon went to the U.S. to set up the company's operations there. In 1910 she set up her own production company in New York and built a studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey. After a period of critical and financial success, her company's fortunes declined and she eventually shut down the studio. Although she secured work directing films for several major Hollywood studios, she returned to France in 1922 after her divorce from Blache. She was never able to secure any directorial jobs there, and never made a film again. In 1964 she returned to the U.S. and lived in Mahwah, New Jersey - not far from where her original studios were - with her daughters, where she died in 1968.
Alice Guy, the First Female Filmmaker
(Self - Filmmaker (archive footage))
The Cabbage-Patch Fairy
Spain
(Self - Presenter)
Alice Guy Films a 'Phonoscène' in the Studio at Buttes-Chaumont, Paris
(Herself, the director)
Animated Portrait Shot by L and A Lumière
(Herself)
Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché
(Self (archive footage))
The Lost Garden: The Life and Cinema of Alice Guy-Blaché
(Self (archive footage))
The Women Who Run Hollywood
(Self (archive footage))
Mireille
A Solax Celebration
(The Cause)
A Collection of Silent Films, Given Sound
(The Groom)
Cinépanorama
(Self)
The Cabbage-Patch Fairy
(Director of Photography)
Gaumont Treasures 1897-1913
(Director)
When Marian was Married
(Director)
L'arroseur arrosé
(Director)
Making an American Citizen
(Producer)
Cook & Rilly's Trained Rooster
(Director)
Le Cake-walk de nouveau cirque
(Director)
Saharet Performs the Bolero
(Director)
Polin Performs "The Anatomy of a Draftee"
(Director)
Dranem Performs The True Jiu-Jitsu
(Director)
Dranem Performs "Five O'Clock Tea"
(Director)
Félix Mayol Performs "Indiscreet Questions"
(Director)
Félix Mayol Performs "The Trottins' Polka"
(Director)
Félix Mayol Performs "White Lilacs"
(Director)
The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ
(Director)
An Obstacle Course
(Director)
Madame's Cravings
(Director)
A Sticky Woman
(Director)
The Hierarchies of Love
(Director)
The Stepmother
(Director)
The Drunken Mattress
(Director)
The Parish Priest's Christmas
(Director)
The Truth Behind the Ape-Man
(Director)
The Consequences of Feminism
(Director)
Ocean Studies
(Director)
The Game-Keeper's Son
(Director)
The Race for the Sausage
(Director)
The Glue
(Director)
A Four-Year-Old Heroine
(Director)
The Rolling Bed
(Director)
The Irresistible Piano
(Director)
On the Barricade
(Director)
The Dirigible 'Homeland'
(Director)
The Mouse in the Crinoline
(Director)
Playing Trumps
(Director)
The Hater of Women
(Director)
The Ocean Waif
(Director)
Danse basque
(Director)
Matrimony's Speed Limit
(Director)
The Cabbage-Patch Fairy
(Director)
Falling Leaves
(Director)
The Fisherman at the Stream
(Director)
Bathing in a Stream
(Director)
Serpentine Dance by Mme. Bob Walter
(Director)
The Turn-of-the-Century Blind Man
(Director)
At the Hypnotist's
(Director)
The Burglars
(Director)
Disappearing Act
(Director)
At the Club
(Director)
Wonderful Absinthe
(Director)
Avenue de l'Opéra
(Director)
Automated Hat-Maker and Sausage-Grinder
(Director)
At the Photographer's
(Director)
Dance of the Seasons: Winter, Snow Dance
(Director)
The Landlady
(Director)
Turn-of-the-Century Surgery
(Director)
Pierrette's Escapades
(Director)
At the Floral Ball
(Director)
The Cabbage-Patch Fairy
(Director)
Eccentric Dance
(Director)
Midwife to the Upper Class
(Director)
An Untimely Intrusion
(Director)
Miss Dundee and Her Performing Dogs
(Director)
How Monsieur Takes His Bath
(Director)
Faust and Mephistopheles
(Director)
The Bricklayers
(Director)
The Statue
(Director)
The Magician's Alms
(Director)
Clown, Dog and Balloon
(Director)
Spain
(Director)
Danse Fleur de Lotus
(Director)
Burstup Homes' Murder Case
(Director)
A House Divided
(Director)
Canned Harmony
(Director)
Danse du papillon
(Director)
Faust
(Director)
Entrée Et Sortie De La Mine
(Director)
Danse Serpentine (In a Lion's Cage)
(Director)
Little Tich and His Funny Feet
(Director)
The Pit and the Pendulum
(Director)
Making an American Citizen
(Director)
Ballet Libella
(Director)
The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ
(Writer)
A Sticky Woman
(Writer)
The Tigress
(Director)
La cène
(Director)
Napoleon
(Director)
The Girl in the Arm-Chair
(Director)
My Madonna
(Director)
My Madonna
(Writer)
Heart of a Painted Woman
(Director)
What Will People Say?
(Director)
The Woman of Mystery
(Director)
The Malagueña and the Bullfighter
(Director)
Electrocution
(Director)
L'utilité des rayons x
(Director)
Greater Love Hath No Man
(Director)
In the Year 2000
(Director)
Midwife to the Upper Class
(Producer)
Algie, the Miner
(Producer)
Les démolisseurs
(Director)
Les congierges
(Director)
The Banknote
(Director)
L'Honneur du Corse
(Director)
Two Little Rangers
(Director)
Falling Leaves
(Writer)
The Consequences of Feminism
(Writer)
Madame's Cravings
(Writer)
Déménagement à la cloche de bois
(Director)
A Fool and His Money
(Director)
A Fool and His Money
(Producer)
The Monster and the Girl
(Director)
Algie, the Miner
(Director)
Across the Mexican Line
(Director)
Cupid and the Comet
(Director)
The Lure
(Director)
The Lure
(Writer)
The Vampire
(Director)
The Vampire
(Producer)
Tramp Strategy
(Director)
Coucher d'une Parisienne
(Scenario Writer)
Coucher d'une Parisienne
(Director)
Surprise Attack on a House at Daybreak
(Director)
The Dream Woman
(Director)
The Dream Woman
(Screenplay)
Les Druides
(Director)
A Priest's Conscience
(Director)
A Priest's Conscience
(Writer)
Esmeralda
(Director)
A Severe Test
(Director)
La Sortie du Bain
(Director)
Canned Harmony
(Producer)
The Cabbage-Patch Fairy
(Writer)
The Adventurer
(Director)
La Gigue
(Director)
Danse fantaisiste
(Director)
Serpentine Dance
(Director)
The Detective's Dog
(Director)
A Story Well Spun
(Director)
Alice Guy Films a 'Phonoscène' in the Studio at Buttes-Chaumont, Paris
(Director)
Gavotte directoire
(Director)
His Mother's Hymn
(Director)
The Cleaning Man
(Director)
Alice Guy - 13 Courts-métrages
(Director)
His Double
(Director)
A House Divided
(Producer)
The Girl in the Arm-Chair
(Producer)
Mixed Pets
(Director)
The First Cigarette
(Director)
The Crime on Temple Street
(Director)
The High Cost of Living
(Director)
The Coming of Sunbeam
(Director)
The New Love And The Old
(Director)
The New Love And The Old
(Producer)
The Roads That Lead Home
(Director)
The Roads That Lead Home
(Producer)
God Disposes
(Director)
Cake Walk, Performed by Nouveau Cirque
(Director)
House of Cards
(Director)
The Empress
(Director)
The Empress
(Writer)
The Cabbage-Patch Fairy
(Writer)
Greater Love Hath No Man
(Writer)
Fra Diavolo
(Director)
Fra Diavolo
(Writer)
Making an American Citizen
(Writer)
Dick Whittington and His Cat
(Writer)
Dick Whittington and His Cat
(Director)
Beasts of the Jungle
(Writer)
The Great Adventure
(Director)
House of Cards
(Writer)
For Love of the Flag
(Director)
A Terrible Lesson
(Director)
Matrimony's Speed Limit
(Producer)
In a Bamboo Hut
(Director)
What Is a Flag?
(Director)
Frozen on Love's Trail
(Director)
Starting Something
(Director)
A Comedy of Errors
(Director)
Parson Sue
(Director)
Le cireur distrait
(Director)
La chaussette
(Director)
A Man's a Man
(Director)
The Strike
(Director)
The Thief
(Director)
Butterfly Dances
(Director)
Cousins of Sherlocko
(Director)
Officer Henderson
(Director)
Mireille
(Director)
The Sewer
(Producer)
Course de taureaux à Nîmes
(Director)
The Song of the Wage Slave
(Director)
Cupid and the Comet
(Producer)
Broken Oaths
(Director)
Les malabares: Les acrobats
(Director)
Bonsoir
(Co-Director)
The Fairy of Spring
(Director)
Shadows of the Moulin Rouge
(Director)
Shadows of the Moulin Rouge
(Writer)
Shadows of the Moulin Rouge
(Producer)
Behind the Mask
(Director)
Dublin Dan
(Producer)
Kelly from the Emerald Isle
(Writer)
The Woman of Mystery
(Scenario Writer)
The Woman of Mystery
(Producer)
The Rogues of Paris
(Director)
The Rogues of Paris
(Producer)
Beasts of the Jungle
(Producer)
The Face at the Window
(Director)
Greater Love Hath No Man
(Executive Producer)
When You and I Were Young
(Director)
The Violin Maker of Nuremberg
(Director)
Mignon
(Director)
Mrs. Cranston's Jewels
(Director)
Hubby Does the Washing
(Director)
Hubby Does the Washing
(Producer)
Blighted Lives
(Director)
Child of the Tenements
(Director)
The Reformation of Mary
(Director)
The Reformation of Mary
(Producer)
The Wooing of Alice
(Director)
Souls in the Shadow
(Director)
Phantom Paradise
(Director)
Treasures on the Wing
(Director)
The Love of the Flag
(Director)
A Comedy of Errors
(Producer)
Hearts Unknown
(Director)
The Woman Behind the Man
(Director)
Burstup Homes
(Director)
Good Evening (The Flower Fairy)
(Director)
Outwitted by Horse and Lariat
(Director)
The Fight in the Dark
(Director)
Someone's Luck Society
(Director)
The Scarlet Woman
(Director)
The Scarlet Woman
(Producer)
The Equine Spy
(Producer)
A Collection of Silent Films, Given Sound
(Director)