The Women Film Pioneers Project (WFPP) is a collaborative digital publication that advances research on female filmmakers in the silent era by showcasing the hundreds of women who worked behind-the-scenes as directors, producers, editors, and more. Always expanding, WFPP features career profiles, longer overview essays on national cinemas and occupations, still and moving images, and archival and bibliographic resource materials. The goals of WFPP are to jumpstart historical research on the work of women filmmakers from the early years of cinema, ending with the coming of sound; to facilitate a cross-national connection between researchers; to reconfigure world film knowledge by foregrounding an undocumented phenomenon: these women worked in many capacities. Published by Columbia University's Center for Digital Research and Scholarship, WFPP features essays written by established film scholars and archivists and covers pioneers from the United States and Latin America, as well as Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic and Slovakia, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, The United Kingdom, and former Yugoslavia. https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/about/
"Jeanie Macpherson is best known as Cecil B. DeMille’s screenwriter since she collaborated exclusively with the director-producer from 1915 through the silent era and into the sound era, in a working relationship lasting fifteen years." #bornonthisday
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-jeanie-macpherson/
Happy Birthday to Gene Gauntier!
In 1924, she recounted her career to Photoplay: “In addition to playing the principal parts, I also wrote, with the exception of a bare half-dozen, every one of the five hundred or so pictures in which I appeared. I picked locations, supervised sets, passed on tests, co-directed with Sidney Olcott.” #bornonthisday
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-gene-gauntier/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
CFP: Audience Lost: Minority Women and Spectatorship
Deadline: June 30, 2019
https://audiencelost.wordpress.com/
Minority Women and Spectatorship
"In 1918, Mary Stuart Spencer, more widely known to the film-going public as the theatre owner Señora Spencer, found herself at the center of a court case in which her capacity to conduct business independently of her husband was put into legal debate." #bornonthisday
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-senora-spencer/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
"Ada Aline Urban is not mentioned in any film histories, but as co-owner and chief financier of the Natural Color Kinematograph Company, she was the leading female figure in British film of her day." #bornonthisday
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-ada-aline-urban/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
Thursday, June 13, 2019!
"Celebrate Lois Weber’s 140th birthday with the unveiling of a new historical marker outside the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s Allegheny branch during the day, then join the History Center in the evening for a special conversation between acclaimed actor and Turner Classic Movies host Illeana Douglas and film historian Shelley Stamp."
Dive into film history with actor and Turner Classic Movies host Illeana Douglas and Dr. Shelley Stamp, film historian and professor of film and digital media at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Silent London
I am so thrilled to see this live. The #VictorianFilm collection on BFI Player
Happy Birthday to Swedish title writer Alva Lundin!
"Throughout the 1920s, Alva Lundin was the most prolific credit title and inter-title designer in Swedish cinema and she designed title cards for at least nineteen silent films."
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/alva-lundin/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
Happy Birthday to Mae Murray!
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/mae-murray/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
Happy Birthday to Olga Petrova!
"Like many other silent actresses, she wrote several of her own screenplays. Her first credit was for the Blaché film 'The Vampire' (1915). In the film trade press, Petrova was a vocal critic of the kind of female roles then available. She told the Motion Picture News that she disliked the 'simpering, gushing ingénue' and preferred to play 'the woman of today: a modern, quick thinking and wholly human woman.'" #bornonthisday
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-olga-petrova/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
Silent London
Excellent Sight & Sound piece by Brad Stevens on Nell Shipman and theories of authorship
"Maria P. Williams, who, like Tressie Souders, also lived in Kansas City, Missouri, produced, distributed, and acted in her own film, The Flames of Wrath (1923)."
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/maria-p-williams-2/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
"The end of the Mexican Revolution in 1917 and the ensuing economic and social stability allowed for the development of Mexican feature film production. In 1917, Derba, along with Enrique Rosas, established the Azteca Film Company and produced five films in that one year: 'Alma de sacrificio,' 'En defensa propia,' 'En la sombra,' 'La soñadora,' and 'La tigresa.' In addition to producing these films, Derba wrote two of the scripts, co-directed 'La tigresa,' and acted in all except 'La tigresa.'"
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-mimi-derba/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
"It would have been hard to page through any major trade publication of the 1910s and 1920s without coming across an item about Mabel Condon. During this time, Condon wore many hats in the film industry, working as a journalist, publicist, trade journal editor, and business owner."
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/mabel-condon/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
"An admitted fan of the movies, Mary MacLane was delighted when Spoor approached her in 1918 with a multi-picture contract that gave her the opportunity to write as well as to act. The first film would be an adaptation of her 1910 article, 'Men Who Have Made Love to Me,' in which she was to play herself." #bornonthisday
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-mary-maclane/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
Coming up 5/9 at The Graduate Center, CUNY: A screening of select titles from Kino Lorber's Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers!
https://opencuny.org/csg/2019/04/13/pioneers-first-women-filmmakers-screening-on-may-9th/
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Happy Birthday to Norma Talmadge!
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-constance-talmadge-and-norma-talmadge
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
Revisit one of our older overview essays: "Women as Camera Operators or 'Cranks'" by Jane Gaines and Michelle Koerner.
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/essay/women-as-camera-operators-or-cranks/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
San Francisco Silent Film Festival
#SFSFF2019 STARTS TOMORROW! See you there! http://bit.ly/SFSFF2019_Tickets
The taboo-busting women of Chinese film
(BBC) - A lot has changed in the past 18 years, according to film director Louisa Wei. In 2001, realising that the female pioneers of Chinese cinema were repeatedly being missed from the history books
Happy Birthday to film magazine writer and editor Gladys Hall!
"Though she produced a remarkable number of photoplay stories and other articles during her early years in the fan magazine field, Gladys Hall became most well known for her interviews with film personalities and other celebrities." #bornonthisday
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/gladys-hall/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
Happy Birthday to Anita Loos!
"A prolific writer who appeared in the press in a manner as glamorized as the stars she wrote for, Anita Loos wrote over one hundred and fifty scripts in her thirty years as a Hollywood screenwriter and elevated intertitles to an art." #bornonthisday
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-anita-loos/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/movies/be-natural-untold-story-alice-guy-blache-review.html
This lively documentary shows how a founder of two national cinemas — director, producer and studio boss — was almost forgotten.
IFC Center
The legacy of the very first #femalefilmmaker had been all but forgotten, but Alice Guy Blaché is indeed an ancestor to narrative filmmakers in general. Learn her story in BE NATURAL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ALICE GUY-BLACHÉ - opens this FRI Apr 26 at IFC Center.
Director Pamela B. Green will be in person on FRI Apr 26 at the 7:05pm show - tickets are available at http://bit.ly/BeNaturalIFCCenter.
"In 1915, Yost left Santa Barbara to take a secretarial course at the Los Angeles Business College. Still a teenager, Yost worked as a secretary at a safe manufacturing company until December 1917 when she took a new secretarial position, this time assisting the scenario editor at the Triangle Film Corporation. Within six months she was promoted to head of the reading department, where she was responsible for reviewing and revitalizing scripts." #bornonthisday
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-dorothy-yost/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
"Katharine Hilliker, best known for her work as a team with her husband, Harry H. Caldwell, began her career writing silent motion picture titles and shaping European films for release in the United States before becoming a freelance production editor for Samuel Goldwyn, United Artists, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Fox Film Corporation." #bornonthisday
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-katharine-hilliker/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
Happy Birthday to Gertrude Thanhouser!
"While Thanhouser Company may not be one of the best known of the early film companies, what is certain is that its founder and public figurehead was Edwin Thanhouser. Missing from this account, however, is the critical role played by his wife, Gertrude Homan Thanhouser. She was a major contributor to the success of the Thanhouser film enterprise, where she worked as actress, scenario writer, film editor, and studio executive." #bornonthisday
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-gertrude-homan-thanhouser/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
"Aili Kari made a career for herself in the early Finnish film industry, but her name is very seldom remembered or mentioned. During the silent era, she worked as a production secretary and as an actress at the major film company Suomi-Filmi, which had been founded in 1919 under the name of Suomen Filmikuvaamo and regularly produced fiction films. Later, Kari was involved in the founding of another major studio, Suomen Filmiteollisuus, and worked there as an office manager and chief accountant." #bornonthisday
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/aili-kari/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
Carrie Rickey on Aloha Wanderwell!
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/obituaries/aloha-wanderwell-overlooked.html
By 16, she was traveling around the world behind the wheel of a Model T in a life of adventure that was interrupted only by a murder mystery.
Happy Birthday to actress/producer Constance Talmadge!
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-constance-talmadge-and-norma-talmadge/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
Happy Birthday to Lucille McVey (aka Mrs. Sidney Drew)!
"The question of the division of labor within husband and wife teams is also relevant with the Drews as it is with other couples such as Mrs. George Randolph Chester and her husband. Both couples were inseparable collaborators in their productive years. But Lucille McVey is different in the way she continued as
'the Drews' when she worked on her own as sole producer and director." #bornonthisday
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-mrs-sidney-drew/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
"Fay Tincher seems to have struck out on her own when she formed Fay Tincher Productions in 1917, but exactly how many comedies she made is uncertain, and none of these are extant." #bornonthisday
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-fay-tincher/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
"Little information has come down to us regarding Fabienne Fabrèges, as well as the many other actresses of that time, despite her well-known and remarkable career. "
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/fabienne-fabreges/
This text was printed from the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University. To promote readability and conserve consumable resources, images and interactive elements in the digital version do not appear in print format.
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