ALICE: PIONEER OF CINEMA

US Premiere | Series | France, Canada, Belgium | 2026 | Biopic, Period | 6 x 45 min | Episodes 1 & 2 | In French with English subtitles

Directed by: Virginie Verrier, Guillaume Lonergan
Created by: Tim Loane, Claire Lemaréchal
Written by: Tim Loane, Claire Lemaréchal, André Gulluni
Produced by: Caroline de Jenlis (Palermo Productions), Grégory Strouk (Wild Bunch TV), Sphere Media, HBO Max, France Télévisions
Cinematography: Yvan Coene, Vincent Gonneville
Original Score: Clémence Ducreux
Film Editing: Nathalie Safir
Cast: Academy Award® nominee Bérénice Bejo (Alice Guy), Thibaut Evrard (Léon Gaumont), Oscar Lesage (Herbert Blaché), Iren Jacob (Marie Blaché), Yannick Choirat (Charles Pathé), Marc Barbé (Gustave Eiffel), Steve Driesen (René Decaux)
International Sales: SND Groupe M6
Original Broadcasting: HBO Max France

Synopsis

In 1895, Alice Guy walked into Léon Gaumont’s office to apply for the position of secretary and went on to become the first narrative filmmaker in cinema history. At a moment when motion picture cameras were still being invented, Guy literally reinvented the medium, shifting the needle from mere documentation to the art of storytelling. Her incredible journey and quest for personal and artistic freedom led her to become the most successful filmmaker of her day… until the industry became a boys’ club and her name was expunged from all records.  But only for a time. And her beautiful films, of course, remain.

Creator/director bios

Series co-creator Claire Lemaréchal has written more than 200 episodes of some 40 different series, including Plus Belle la Vie (2011-2019), A Very Secret Service (2015-2018), Sam (2016-2021), The Bureau (2018), Chronicles of the Sun (2020-2023), and Drops of God (2026).
Co-creator Tim Loane has written numerous episodes of Teachers (2001-2004), Red Rock (2015-2016), Versailles (2017-2018), Das Boot (2020) and Marcella (2020), among others.
Co-director Virginie Verrier has directed 78 episodes of Our Crazy Family (2017-2018) and Chronicles of the Sun (2019-2021), as well as the feature films À 2 heures de Paris (2018) and Marinette (TAFFF 2023).
Quebecois co-director Guillaume Lonergan has directed 51 episodes of Big Top Academy and its sequel (2018-2020), 195 episodes of Alix et les Merveilleux (2019-2021), as well as episodes of La Confrérie (2022), and Last Summers of the Raspberries (2024), among others.