Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers (1902-1929)

Distributor: Kino Lorber

In the Wild West days of early filmmaking—before Hollywood hardened into an assembly-line behemoth and boys’ club—talented women worked regularly as writers, producers, and directors, instrumental in shaping the very language of cinema as we know it. Nevertheless, figures like Alice Guy Blaché and Lois Weber are known today primarily by aficionados, and artists like Nell Shipman, Grace Cunard, and Marion E. Wong remain woefully obscure. Bringing together dozens of essential new restorations, this series spotlights the daring, innovative, and trailblazing work of the first female filmmakers and restores their centrality to the creation of cinema itself.


DISC ONE: ALICE GUY-BLACHE
- Mixed Pets [AM], Alice Guy Blaché, 1911, 14.1 min
- Tramp Strategy [AM], Alice Guy Blaché, 1911, 12 min
- Greater Love Hath No Man [AM], Alice Guy Blaché, 1911, 16.25 min
- Algie the Miner [AM], Alice Guy Blaché, 1912, 10 min
- Falling Leaves, Alice Guy Blaché, 1912, 11.75 min
- Little Rangers, The, Alice Guy Blaché, 1912, 11.5 min
- Canned Harmony, Alice Guy Blaché, 1912, 16 min
- Fool and His Money, A, Alice Guy Blaché, 1912, 10.75 min
- High Cost of Living, The, Alice Guy Blaché, 1912, 14.5 min
- Coming of Sunbeam, The [AM], Alice Guy Blaché, 1913, 11.25 min
- Burstup Homes' Murder Case, Alice Guy Blaché, 1913, 14.75 min
- A House Divided, Alice Guy Blaché, 1913, 13.2 min
- Matrimony's Speed Limit / NYWIFT, Alice Guy Blaché, 1913, 14 min
- Ocean Waif, The, Alice Guy Blaché, 1916, 36.3 min
- Colleen Bawn, The, Gauntier, Gene (sc), 1911, 35 min
- On the Brink, Lois Weber, 1911, 12.5 min

Disc 1 Extras:
- Introduction to Series, approx 13 min.
- Alice Guy-Blache documentary, approx 10 min.
- About the Restorations, approx 7 min.


DISC TWO: LOIS WEBER
- From Death to Life, Lois Weber, 1912, 13.75 min
- Fine Feathers, Lois Weber, 1912, 15 min
- Rosary, The, Lois Weber, 1913, 14.5 min
- Suspense, Lois Weber, 1913, 11.25 min
- Lost By a Hair, Lois Weber, 1914, 4 min
- Hypocrites, Lois Weber, 1915, 51.5 min
- Sunshine Molly, Lois Weber, 1915, 31.5 min
- Idle Wives, Lois Weber, 1916, 23.5 min
- What Do Men Want?, Lois Weber, 1921, 40.75 min

Disc 2 Extra:
- Lois Weber documentary, approx 12 min.


DISC 3: GENRE PIONEERS
- Hazards of Helen Ep.13: The Escape on the Fast Freight*, Helen Holmes, 1915, 11.25 min
- Hazards of Helen Ep. 26: Wild Engine, The, Helen Holmes, 1915, 10.5 min
- Purple Mask, The; Episode 5, Part 1, Grace Cunard, 1917, 13 min
- Purple Mask, The: Episode 12 (Vault of Mystery), Grace Cunard, 1917, 19.5 min
- Purple Mask, The; Episode 13, Part 1 (The Leap), Grace Cunard, 1917, 10.5 min
- A Daughter of "The Law", Grace Cunard, 1921, 21.75 min
- Eleanor's Catch, Madison, Cleo, 1916, 13.25 min
- 49 - '17, Baldwin, Ruth Ann, 1917, 70.25 min
- Caught in a Cabaret, Mabel Normand, 1914, 23.5 min
- Mabel's Blunder, Mabel Normand, 1914, 16.5 min
- Mabel and Fatty's Wash Day, Mabel Normand, 1916, 13 min
- That Ice Ticket, Gibson, Angela Murray, 1923, 10 min
- Ethnographic Films, Hurston, Zora Neale, 1929, 12.5 min

Disc 3 Extras:
- Mabel Normand documentary, approx 7 min.
- Serial Queens documentary, approx 7 min.


DISC 4: SOCIAL COMMENTARY 1
- Where Are My Children?, Lois Weber, 1916, 65 min
- Her Defiance - Madison, Cleo, 1916, 21 min
- When Little Lindy Sang, Warrenton, Lule, 1916, 10.25 min
- Curse of Quon Gwon: When the Far East Mingle with the West, Wong, Marion E., 1916, 35 min
- Scandal (aka Scandal Mongers), Lois Weber, 1916, 35.5 min
- Dream Lady, The, Wilson, Elsie Jane, 1918, 53.75 min

Disc 4 Extra:
- Social Commentary, approx 12 min.


DISC 5: SOCIAL COMMENTARY 2
- Risky Road, The, Park, Ida May, 1918, 2 min
- Bread, Park, Ida May, 1918, 16 min
- Salome, Nazimova, Alla, 1923, 71.5 min
- Red Kimona , Davenport Reid, Dorothy, 1925, 77 min
- Linda, Davenport Reid, Dorothy, 1929, 73.25 min


DISC 6: THE FEATURE FILM
- Call of the Cumberlands, The, Ivers, Julia Crawford, 1916, 64 min
- Back to God's Country, Shipman, Nell, 1919, 73.5 min
- Song of Love, The, Marion, Frances, 1923, 81 min

Disc 6 Extra:
- The End of an Era, approx 10 min.




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