Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache — Trailer

added: Mon, Dec 17th '18

After eight years of research, first-time documentary filmmaker Pamela B. Green has delved into the early years of cinema's history to unearth the remarkable life story of an important, yet nearly forgotten film pioneer, Alice Guy-Blache.

In the upcoming Kickstarter-funded documentary "Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache," Green shines a much-deserved spotlight on the late 19th-century French-born filmmaker who was not only the world's first ever female director, but who also became the first filmmaker of either sex to direct a fictional narrative film -- 1896's "La Fee aux Choux" (The Fairy of the Cabbages).

While being one of the first filmmakers to utilize pioneering camera techniques such as the close-up, hand tinted color, and synchronized sound, Alice Guy-Blache ended up directing, writing, and producing approximately a thousand films over the course of two decades. During 1910 in New Jersey, a time when the film business was transitioning from being small scientific public exhibits into a new lucrative entertainment market, she helped launch and co-owned one of the first motion picture studios in America, called Solax Studios.

Yet the question remains, why is she such an obscure figure and not more widely known today?

Following a festival run that included world-premiere screenings at this year's Cannes Film Festival and Telluride Film Festival, "Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache," which is narrated by Oscar-winner Jodie Foster, is scheduled to open in U.S. theaters in early 2019. In the meanwhile, you can watch the trailer, above.

synopsis:
Narrated by Jodie Foster, Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache is a documentary about the first female filmmaker, exploring the heights of fame and financial success she achieved before she was shut out from the very industry she helped create. Guy-Blache started her career as a secretary to Leon Gaumont and in 1896, at 23, was inspired to make her own film called La Fee aux Choux (The Cabbage Fairy), one of the first narrative films ever made.

Over the span of her career, she wrote, produced or directed 1,000 films, including 150 with synchronized sound during the 'silent' era. Her work includes comedies, westerns and dramas, as well as films with groundbreaking subject matter such as child abuse, immigration, Planned Parenthood, and female empowerment. She also etched a place in history by making the earliest known surviving narrative film with an all-black cast. After a decade of making films at Gaumont she had a second decade-long career in the U.S., where she built and ran her own studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

Pamela Green has dedicated more than eight years of research in order to discover the real story of Alice Guy-Blache (1873-1968) – highlighting not only her pioneering contributions to the birth of cinema but also her acclaim as a creative force and entrepreneur in the earliest years of movie-making. Green interviews Patty Jenkins, Diablo Cody, Ben Kingsley, Geena Davis, Ava DuVernay, Michel Hazanavicius, and Julie Delpy -- to name just a few -- who comment on Guy-Blache's innovations. Green discovered rare footage of televised interviews and long archived audio interviews which can be heard for the first time in Be Natural, which allows Alice Guy-Blache to tell her own story.

directed by Pamela B. Green

starring Jodie Foster (narrator)

release date Early 2019 (in theaters)