Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy Blaché (2018)

[Blergh]

  I recently saw this one and, if one gets the chance, IMO this is definitely worth seeking out for feminist historians, film historians and those who just enjoy being entertained by film!

Spoiler

  In 1895, Mlle. Guy was a 22-year-old Parisian secretary who attended the premiere of the Lumiere Brothers first publicly shown film Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory and this would set in motion a desire to make films herself to tell stories as opposed to merely filming people in action. So much so that in 1896, she made her very first film, The Cabbage Fairy, which many believe to have been the first narrative film ever made and would go on to write, produce and/or direct at least 1,000 films(yes, one thousand)  from that time until the early 1920s.  She would live to the age of 94 in 1968. Not only was she almost certainly  the first woman director but she had an astounding streak of creativity and drive with a startling range of imaginative storylines and innovations (including color tinting and even sound)!  Narrated (and produced) by Jodie Foster, this movie not only celebrates Mme. Blaché's work and life but also is quite the detective story re tracing the fates of Mme. Blaché's family, colleagues, interviews (as late as 1963) as well as a race to seek out and, if at all possible, salvage as many of her surviving works before time and the nitrate film stock's innate combustibility destroyed them forever).  I give this one an A Plus!