Alice Guy-Blaché was the first woman director, and at age 23 (before the turn of the century), she was one of the first filmmakers to make a narrative film. She pioneered the technology of syncing sound to film, created the first film with an all African-American cast, and was the first woman to build and run a film studio. She wrote, directed, and produced more than 1,000 films, and had a career of 24 years, the longest of any of the cinema trailblazers.
