(1873 - 1968)
French filmmaker, director, screenwriter, producer and actress.
Guy-Blaché was the first person to be a film director as well as a writer of narrative fiction films. “There is nothing connected with the staging of a motion picture that a woman cannot do as easily as a man, and there is no reason why she cannot completely master every technicality.”
Guy-Blaché directed hundreds of films, including melodramas, comedies, westerns and military features, and promoted active female leads. She was well renowned in the early days of Hollywood when female directors were at the forefront, before the beginning of the sound era in the late 1920s.
After separating from her husband and moving back to France in 1922, she never regained a foothold in Hollywood and for decades her work was all but forgotten. However, over a hundred of her films have now been rediscovered and in 1953 she was awarded the Legion of Honour.
The 2019 documentary entitled Be Natural pays tribute to Guy-Blaché and her achievements, and also traces the circumstances under which she was forgotten by the world.
