Female pioneer filmmaker gets her due

Despite her accomplishments, she was left out of books on film history. But her story is being told thanks to a documentary by Marquise Lepage. Lepage created “The Lost Garden: The Life and Cinema of Alice Guy-Blanché.”

The film will be shown at 4 p.m. Sunday, June 24 at Tipton Hall on the Santa Fe University of Art and Design’s campus. The event is co-sponsored by New Mexico Committee National Museum of Women in the Arts and New Mexico Women in Film.

Guy-Blanché is credited as being the first female film director and she is credited with being the first narrative film director. She was born in 1873 and died in 1968.

She also was an owner of her own film studio, Solax Studio, which was based in New Jersey in the late 1800s to the mid-1900s.

In 2011, Guy-Blanché was honored posthumously by the Directors Guild of America with the DGA Special Directorial Lifetime Achievement Award as the first woman director in cinema history.

Director Martin Scorsese spoke of how Guy-Blanché was not only the first woman director, but a pioneer in narrative filmmaking, color and sound film, as well as the first women to own a movie studio.

“She’s an important piece of filmmaking history,” says Janet Davidson, founding president of NMWIF. “For many years, she wasn’t recognized for all that she’s done and now she’s getting a lot more recognition.”

Davidson says as you delve deeper into film history in the late 1800s and early 1900s, it was very common to see women at the helm of movies and its studios. She says when the film industry started to blossom and moved to Hollywood women were pushed out.

“Money and business became what movies was all about,” she says. “The films that Alice had made, her name was taken off of them and replaced with a man’s name.”

Davidson says she usually cries every time she sees the film because women are an important part of film and have a long history with it.

“The documentary proves that we have an original place in film,” she explains. “Women interested in film shouldn’t let an industry bring them down. Each women needs to use their talent and let it manifest to become successful.”

In addition to the screening, Davidson says there will be a panel discussion about where female artists stand in today’s world. The panel will consist of Davidson, Monique Anair, Diane Armitage, Joan Tewkesbury and Sara Eyestone.

Davidson says she’s interested about hearing what Tewkesbury has to say about the film business.

“She used to be a show runner for a lot of productions,” she says. “It’ll be interesting to see how business works in the upper echelon of filmmaking.”

Davidson says that women in TV and film number about 18 percent, including directors, producers and writers.

“The numbers have dipped and we’re trying to get a grasp on what’s causing it,” she says. “It’ll be an interesting conversation for everyone.”

“The Lost Garden: The Life and Cinema of Alice Guy-Blanché”
WHEN: 4 p.m. Sunday, June 24
WHERE: Tipton Hall, Santa Fe University of Art and Design, 1600 St. Michael’s Drive, Santa Fe
HOW MUCH: $10 general, $5 WIF members, free for students with valid I.D. and available at www.ticketssantafe.org or 505-988-1234