Alice Ida Antoinette Guy-Blaché (née Guy; ; 1 July 1873 – 24 March 1968) was a French pioneer filmmaker. She was one of the first filmmakers to make a narrative fiction film, as well as the first woman to direct a film. From 1896 to 1906, she was probably the only female filmmaker in the world. She experimented with Gaumont's Chronophone sync-sound system, and with color-tinting, interracial casting, and special effects. She was artistic director and a co-founder of Solax Studios in Flushing, New York. In 1912, Solax invested $100,000 for a new studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey, the center of American filmmaking prior to the establishment of Hollywood. That year, she made the film A Fool and His Money, probably the first to have an all-African-American cast. The film is now preserved at the National Center for Film and Video Preservation at the American Film Institute for its historical and aesthetic significance. Early life and education In 1865, Alice's father, Émile Guy, an owner of a bookstore and publishing company in Santiago, Chile and Valparaíso, Chile, married Marie Clotilde Franceline Aubert. The couple returned to Santiago after the wedding in Paris. In early 1873, Marie and Émile lived in Santiago, with Alice's four siblings. There was a devastating smallpox epidemic in Chile in 1872 and 1873. Émile and Marie Guy brought all four of their children back to Paris, where Alice was born. In her autobiography, Alice refers to this as her mother's attempt to make sure "her fifth child should be truly French". Her father returned to Chile soon after her birth, and her mother followed a few months later. Alice was entrusted to her grandmother in Carouge, Switzerland. At the age of three or four, Alice's mother returned from Chile and took Alice back to South America. At the age of six, Alice was taken back to France by her father to attend school at Veyrier known as the Faithful Companions of Jesus on the French side of the Swiss border in Veyrier, France. Alice and her sister Louise were moved to a convent in Ferney a few years later and then brought back to Paris. Alice's father died on 5 January 1891 of unknown causes. Following his death, Alice's mother got a job with Mutualité maternelle which was founded on 20 May 1891. Alice's mother was unable to keep that job and thereafter Alice trained