‘The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair’s Jean-Jacques Annaud To Direct TV Series About World’s First Female Filmmaker Alice Guy

Peter White
·3 min read

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The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair’s Jean-Jacques Annaud is to direct a TV series about Alice Guy, the world’s first female filmmaker.

Annaud, who directed the Patrick Dempsey miniseries for Epix, has teamed up with Wild Bunch TV, the company behind John Turturro’s The Name of the Rose, 68productions and former ICM Chairman Jeff Berg to develop the series.

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Based on Emmanuelle Gaume’s book Alice Guy, the series will feature an international cast, and will tell the story of Guy, who between 1896 and 1906 was thought to be the only female director in the world. Guy was an illegitimate, mixed race child, rejected by an abusive and violent father who kidnaps her from her mother, and raised between Chile, Switzerland and France. At the dawn of the 20th century, in a world controlled by men and amid the hustle and bustle of the emerging art form that is cinema, she became the world’s first woman to direct movies.

Wild Bunch TV is handling international sales.

Jean-Jacques Annaud said, “It’s the story of the meteoric life of an extraordinary young woman, so rapidly celebrated and so quickly forgotten, who happens to be the world’s first female filmmaker… After becoming acquainted with this pioneer, so crucial to the evolution of our society, I want to bring her out of the oblivion into which she has fallen. Telling this story is also a wonderful way for me to pay tribute to my craft.”

Wild Bunch TV boss Gregory Strouk said, “This is a very exciting and totally modern project. We are very proud to partner with 68productions to put such an important and unfairly forgotten female figure in the spotlight she deserves. Having visionary and deeply passionate Jean-Jacques Annaud on board makes this a real dream project.”

68productions’ Sophie Wittmer added, “Our journey with Alice Guy began in 2016 when we bought the rights to Emmanuelle Gaume’s novel, then continued when we produced a documentary for France 3 in 2017. When we imagined producing a TV series based on the material, Jean-Jacques Annaud was our instant first choice to bring the extraordinary story of this passionate, rebellious and visionary woman to the screen. Wild Bunch has very quickly proven to be a terrific partner and we are thrilled to start this adventure with them.”

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