Film & Media: The Women Who Built The Film Industry

Despite the classic image of the all-male cigar-chomping Hollywood moguls of yesteryear, many of the true early pioneers of the art and science of film were women. Actors, technicians, stunt performers, directors, writers, producers – even studio heads – they played a huge role in creating the most important global industry of the twentieth century, without ever getting their names on the door. Over five weeks we’ll take a look at a series of these important pioneering women from America and Europe; Actors Theda Bara, Florence Lawrence, and Olive Borden; stunt performer Florence LaBadie; directors Lois Weber and Alice Guy-Blaché; technicians and inventors Élizabeth and Marie-Berthe Thullier, Julienne Mathieu, and Natalie Kalmus; powerful British industrial figure Esther Harris, and Hollywood’s first fitness guru Sylvia Ulback . No previous knowledge is required.