27 ENE. 2024 · History is defined by the dominant While other voices have been kept sealed too long This is why we should have a united front Nineteenth century France is where I belong Though I worked and lived also in the U.S. My passion for moving pictures was so strong That my first narrative film was a success The Cabbage Patch Fairy even had sequels But I must start from my birth to then progress Emile and Marie Guy were no rebels I was their fifth child and first wanted to act Father said it was not meant for demoiselles My reputation had to be kept intact It was more bourgeois to learn stenography My skills working at Gaumont had an impact I began as a simple secretary A private screening of the Lumière Brothers Made me see potential in this artistry I came up with close-ups, double exposures, Hand-tinted colours, special effects, split-screens And synchronised sound amongst many others French literature inspired some of my scenes The Passion of Christ and social issues too I tried to go beyond portraying routines An African-American cast came through I discussed planned parenthood and child abuse Kids are the best performers for how they’re true I was a working mum while I would produce Simone and Reginald were on set with me They watched how I changed the traditions in use I had men and women swap clothes to be free Gender role reversals meant males in corsets The habitual garment for Alice Guy Blaché I became with marriage and more projects I fell in love with Herbert, an English man For him I relinquished Paris and baguettes We ventured into the New World with a plan Expanding the magic of motion pictures Solax my production company began Fort Lee gave wave to cinematic mixtures I was thirty three and he was twenty four All was going according to the scriptures With the Great War no instant was as before The licensing fees of Edison to work Ended East Coast filmmaking forevermore My husband was spellbound by Hollywood’s perk His Californian girls led us to divorce I couldn’t find a job not even as a clerk Back to France with my children and no remorse Yet the scene had changed for female directors The Great Depression deprived me of my force I depended on my daughter’s job sectors At the American Embassy posts changed The two of us became country collectors In books about cinema I was estranged My works were credited to male filmmakers Historians took no care in this exchange Many hundreds of screenplays I would create Shooting and editing were all my domain Even the business plan I could conjugate Script theft was something I knew how to refrain I used powder to detect the fingerprints We were writing the new rules to entertain The Picture Show provided several glints One of the mistresses of my former consort Had her historical title in misprints Lois Weber was first in the U.S. court I was the first female filmmaker worldwide There’s no desire of merit in this report.

27 ENE. 2024 · I came to the world during a spring drizzle My family was middle-class and Christian Toiling young in missions became my chisel For social justice in my work of fiction They called it an unladylike profession The craft of moving picture composition Before that music was my one obsession I was a pianist, organist and singer When I reached New York I made the progression The musical comedies made me linger In the company of dear Philips Smalley He became my husband, the perfect dinger Our work-love companionship was so jolly Being hired at Gaumont was so life-changing One short film every week was quite a folly With Madame and Monsieur Blaché mentoring I was remodeled to auteur filmmaker It was a grand cinematic beginning Motherhood did not turn out to be my sector The loss of Phoebe made me focus on film My world became the screen and the projector Making pictures in the West Coast was less dim Universal City chose me as its mayor My stories were fruit of conscience not of whim Of progressive goals I became the conveyor Birth control, addiction, eugenics and more I captured on film and was called soothsayer Structural complexity I would explore The first U.S. feature by a woman was mine Lois Weber Productions had so much in store People would say I was ahead of my time I enjoyed empowering female workmates After the Twenties nothing was as before Ladies’ brains were ignored, their bodies were baits The wings they had creatively flapped were now clipped The only sway was in their dresses and gaits My film about gender politics was ripped I had to abandon the Land of the Free To the Old Continent and Orient we tripped With Philips it was no longer meant to be I returned to the New World and was divorced Yet love had not at all given up on me My need for a new life was therefore reinforced With Captain Harry Gantz we set up a Ranch All that was left of my fortune he outsourced I tried to claim my cinematic revanche But censorship smothered artistic freedom Defeat tumbled upon me like an avalanche I made one talkie, no spectator had come I ultimately found delight in teaching Movies act as a kinetic museum I supplanted the black board with a screening Despite this industry left me penniless It must not discourage female pioneering.

27 ENE. 2024 · Have you ever wondered how it can feel like To handle filmmaking through a non-white lens? For women like myself there was no Klondike I later achieved endurance through my friends I was born in the South East, in Kentucky Robert and Leuvenia were loving parents When we moved to Kansas we all felt lucky But rainbows were different for those like us A darker shade of pale was seen as mucky Black migrants as my kin were Exodusters Quite soon though the two took their separate ways I now stood on my own as Tressie Souders African American life was a maze Our aspirations could not be ambitious After high school I started off my work phase Being a maid turned out to be propitious Mr. Nelson and his family were kind I became an observer, never vicious To the sharing of stories I was inclined Since I performed in a morality play Depicting lives on stage developed my mind Film allowed me to advance in a new way By shattering the stereotypes on Blacks A Woman’s Error truly marked my heyday Grand it could be in the era of Imax I then chose to seek fortune in Hollywood Yet domestic jobs remained my endorsed acts I met Oscar and ended my maidenhood My husband was in charge of a billiard hall But my status as his Mrs. was no good In San Francisco I no longer felt small Madame C. J. Walker took me in her home As a woman of colour she had it all She was self-made thanks to hair products and foam And proved that dreams can be a reality No limitations should come from a genome.

27 ENE. 2024 · Cinematography was boundless for me I defied conventions of motion pictures I went from Britain to the Adriatic Sea The Ottoman and Balkan troops were hotspurs I captured the war on a plate camera Mr. Newman made it for my bold transfers My Papa was General in Rumelia Uncle and aunt were newspaper editors I was a war reporter of my era I was armed to shield myself from predators It was not all fun and games, yet feats were swell By chance I was brought to meet some prisoners I also had my tripod smashed by a shell In a Vlach town I improvised a dark room Creating out of wool rugs a tiny cell In Adrianople some locals would assume I could cure cholera with my camera But it was back home in England I would fume When a projectionist made a disaster He was incompetent during a lecture I lost the case in Court to this wreck master But joy came from the Fitzrovia Prefecture The Scala Theatre showed my celluloid The Arctic was next with my new conjecture A healing colony I would have deployed But in Spitsbergen I only hunted seals And farmed reindeer before my dream was destroyed The Great War arrived and firmly changed the deals I got wounded as an ambulance worker The Belgian Corps rewarded my ideals I shaped my life like my toil as a sculptor I could be Jessica Borthwick or Nell Foy Plus I had a factory of dolls galore Whitechapel Art Gallery showed my toy In South Kensington pipe smoking was an art While experimenting I was never coy For the images on home screens I took part Through the British Broadcasting Corporation Showing Russian performers singing with heart.

27 ENE. 2024 · I come from the country of film Neorealism I used that style before those male filmmakers Some say my work was a sort of activism First Italian female cineaste of shakers Actress, writer, producer, distributor I most preferred non-professional actors My scenes portrayed the humble, mundane factor Village festivals, iris shots, cross-fades I also recreated deviant behaviour Form and reverie came from the female gaze Why should a lady settle for one suitor? Ardent ‘sceneggiata’ drama was my craze Neapolitan songs too, I liked to secure Piedigrotta helped our record industry With the film press connections I held allure I handled posters in synchronicity A spectator once tried to kill a villain Those were effects of my authenticity My modest background had a studious fill-in As a milliner I first started working A passion that thrived in my films deep within As Elvira Coda I was hardworking When I was wed to Nicola Notari I found him ever so dearly supporting Our film production company was glary It was named after our sweet daughter Dora It was really evolutionary We built a stage set, or ‘teatro di posa’ We braved the crisis of the Giolitti Age My spouse was the camera, I the aura Eduardo or Gennariello on stage Our son played the ‘scugnizzo,’ the street urchin He even went through the ‘guaglione ‘e core’ stage He was a good-hearted kid without a sin I was the ‘Marescialla,’ the General My harsh attitude allowed no underpin True emotions made acting so empyreal I banned glycerin for artificial tears I had marvellous performers on my reel Tina Pica and Capannelle for years Dora Film also arrived in Manhattan Gennaro Capuano was in high gears Little Italy folks our films would demand I felt the urge to create an Acting School To enter the characters’ minds and expand I was told by someone with a time capsule That later on, child-actor Enzo Staiola Used my cognitive method as acting tool It was in a film about a bicycle… Times change, and the arts succumb to politics The return of dictators is cyclical My strong heroines went against their optics The Fascist Regime was for the patriarchy I was censored and could no longer pull tricks To them my work was absolute anarchy Women could only be angels of the hearth America showed my films clandestinely Cinema was centralised to Rome henceforth I tried to adapt to Hollywood style Our film company perished with no rebirth Eduardo tried Great Britain for a while But soon returned to the Parthenopean land With Nicola we then kept a low profile Cava de’ Tirreni became our dreamland Far from the horrors of the war I wondered Will this Cinema Mamma in future stand?

27 ENE. 2024 · I came into this world as Aloisia Veltée My home was enveloped by the mountainous zone Do not envision me within a relais I lived in the city were Klimt’s kiss was blown The Hofburg, the Philarmonic and Demel Are parts of my dear hometown that are well-known But the Stadtpanoptikum was just as well My father was the founder of this Kohlmarkt Where people could see living pictures and dwell I helped as I could, at the cashier I worked I felt the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy Patriotism in my films was clear, not lurked Three men in my life, for my craft, were the key: My brother Claudius, Anton Kolm and Jakob Fleck We were a fine motion pictures crew, us three All of the steps of filmmaking I would check With Kolm and Fleck we founded Wiener Kunstfilm I enjoyed working also at the splicing deck We began shooting some Dokumentarfilm In the Prater with its hustle and bustle The foreign competition was strong in film But our Habsburg storytelling had muscle Our goal was shaping highbrow entertainment We wanted our work to make noise, not rustle Adapting literary texts was frequent Social drama, criminal genre, comedy Are all the styles I used to represent Rape, abortion, impotence, with honesty I went from Hosenrollenfilme with trousers To motherland propaganda policy I was the mightiest of Österreich espousers The aftermath of World War I was a mess The financial crisis was breeding grousers We dissolved the company to avoid stress My husband Anton fell ill and passed away My bond with Jakob led to a wedding dress I was one through my two spouses from that day Luise Kolm-Fleck moved to Berlin to work again Forty films were made, but success did not stay Something happened, it was Hitler and his men My consort was Jewish, so trouble began His films were signed under my son Walter’s pen But circumstances got much worse for my man: Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps Friends prevented him from being a deadman They made us flee to Shanghai with many thanks In China our craft truly grew with Fei Mu Yet World War II obliged us to break these ranks Intentions of expats were a misconstrue We left the South East with hope in our pockets Austria’s post-war film studio had come through We dreamt to work wonders again on film sets The world and cinema around us had changed However I felt blest and hold no regrets.

27 ENE. 2024 · I created magic with scissors, some say Silhouette animation was my bailiwick Black-cut characters emerged in shadow play I mastered how to scherenschnitte real quick In youth I was Charlotte from Charlottenburg At my open-air school I never got sick Tuberculosis had recently occurred Thus, the best therapy was sun-kissed fresh air Hence, my inspiration took flight like a bird Chinese shadow puppetry made me aware Of the potential of these cut-out figures I first longed to be an actress anywhere My family shows were early transmitters Of the technique I would then use for film Georges Méliès and Paul Wegener were my mentors My silhouette storytelling was fluidly prim Stop-motion animation was its kindred Working for Max Reinhardt’s stagings was no whim Even the title-cards I made elated The Institut für Kulturforschung then followed By avantgardists I was fascinated There, my relationship with Carl Koch took hold We tied the knot and my love grew each day more Meanwhile with my animated art I showed Fable-like wonder and ancient myths galore First, The Ornament Of The Enamoured Heart That short film, other work requests would procure I got a knack for the advertising art I made a falcon dream sequence for Fritz Lang Then came financier Louis Haggin’s support He banked on my work and my praises he sang The Adventures of Prince Achmed were much desired This feature debut came out with a huge bang One Thousand And One Night tales had it inspired Enchantment was brought by Wolfgang Zeller’s score The queer experience I fully inquired To destigmatise homosexual amour But distribution censored this objective My dark shaped craft was lauded by Jean Renoir I possessed fairy hands in his perspective I contrived the first multi-plane camera Planes of glass to the eyes were deceptive My tricktisch surprises were a plethora Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks later used them My characters emerged through an aurora I even ventured in the live-action realm Our left-wing ideas made us flee Berlin In Germany the Nazi were at the helm We were not given visas to our chagrin Much of the Thirties through Europe we wandered In Greece with Karagiozis I would begin In London GPO Film Unit I conquered Opera influenced our work immensely With kind Luchino Visconti we bonded My Mama’s health made us return home swiftly After a few years Great Britain claimed us back Citizenship came and work with BBC Projects came pouring in, almost without track Telecasting America hired me too Then my Carl left me after a heart attack Now I felt my life had nothing left to do When I then re-emerged from my seclusion Three final short films I managed to pursue Order of Merits for my contribution I, Lotte Reiniger received with gratitude And pondered if it was just an illusion I peeked in the Eighties and its attitude At this point the quiver was full of arrows Animated films had reached their magnitude So will my legacy stay in the shadows? Will my paper-cut silhouettes be forgotten? Or will they ensorcell unforeseen hallows?

27 ENE. 2024 · I was a critic before I made my pictures My family was of classe moyenne supérieur We were quite close to Jules Verne’s infrastructures Our genealogy was Saisset-Schneider I left Amiens for Paris with my granny Journalism I confronted with great ardeur Writing about feminism was uncanny For others, but it was my bread and butter I loved covering cinematography I was an assertive dàme, not a nutter La Française and La Fronde were my outlets I described women’s skills shoved in the gutter Some things were seen unfit for the weaker sex Practicing law or physics were just a few Still and moving pictures were not seen as threats It was early, the medium was still new Stacia Napierkowska led me to this realm I joined her in Italy with her film crew Her act for the camera could overwhelm I was so conquered by this creative form Of my own studio I was at the helm Irène Hillel-Erlanger wrote scripts in norm Our D.H. Films company had the support Of my apt husband who worked in land reform Louis-Albert Dulac my art did escort And held no contempt when our marriage ended My style wanted to be a means of transport For the mind to fluctuate when suspended La Souriante Madame Beudet allowed me To explore beyond what was comprehended It was seen as the first sisterhood movie A woman sought escape from a grim wedlock I applied Impressionism, it was groovy My Surrealist touch was defined poppycock La Coquille et le Clergyman was the film That was inspired by Antonin Artaud’s work But the use of this expression in cine-film Credited the men of Un chien andalou It was a sensory trip on micro-film My work was received with a boisterous boo I was no Luis Buñuel or Salvador Dalí I was called ‘vache’ for my anti-sexist point of view It did not block me, after all c’est la vie Cinema affected me in many ways Germaine Dulac was still my identity After divorce I moved away from clichés Marie-Anne Colson-Malleville I loved Our romance was meant for the rest of our days Two spouses were destined to my beloved Our liaison was way more profound than these ties My professional progress she never shoved Artsy or mainstream I made no compromise Cinéma pur was my first and foremost mission Above literature and stage it would rise Emotion and abstraction was my vision Using dolly shots and lens distortions too And dynamic cutting to cause elision The sequential Kuleshov effect I knew The flow of apperception was my focus From Charles Baudelaire inspiration I drew Invitation au voyage was no bogus I was freeing my Dada vitality Helping young talents was my magnum opus The Fédération des ciné-clubs I would oversee I taught courses at the École Technique I received the Légion d’Honneur with utmost glee Sound film did not agree at all with my streak So I plunged in Pathé and Gaumont newsreels Howbeit I feel my craft will thrive as unique.

27 ENE. 2024 · I was born in a revue company stage My family worked in the theatre always I sang and performed from a very young age I was quite determined, never in a daze The Netherlands was my place of expression My life was articulate in many ways Three husbands, some kids, and show-biz accession I even lived in Pretoria for a time I enjoyed an effective working session Eureka, the movie company, was mine My son André was at the head of management Lien, my daughter, any task she could align My films were all about Bet, the corpulent She was bossy with her henpecked husband Hein Their physical imbalance caused amusement It could be compared to the Nursery Rhyme Where Jack ate no fat and his wife ate no lean The comedic buildup was utterly prime Since betwixt them both they licked the platter clean My screen character debuted in variétée She made people laugh in every vaudeville scene Thus, I brought my Jordaan-genre to the ciné It mocked some locals from the Dutch Capital It was about the Jordaan neighborhood cliché My acting style was somehow biographical It was a tribute to Lion, my brother He took his own life and it was tragical Art can transform pain into something other The Adriënne Solser hallmark was social farce Constructive satire I would never smother My live-act in synch with the screen was a force I adored the multidisciplinary My fiction had a pragmatical discourse My method was close to documentary Since I was often shooting on location In the midst, life’s joys were transitionary On one end I got my standing ovation On the other I lost my son suddenly Pneumonia hit him and left no salvation My grief made me plunge into work entirely In my film, Bet trained for the Olympic Game It was in 1928 precisely That my city, Amsterdam, hosted the flame Women were allowed to join for the first time I was at the height of my success and fame Later on, my jubilee was so sublime For my sixty years in the performing arts I felt swept away by my own pantomime It was 1943 in fits and starts But later that year I was pushed off a train It was like being tossed from some high ramparts I went to hospital for a femur sprain Doetinchem is where I was stationed to mend Alas, how I longed for a glass of champagne.

27 ENE. 2024 · I shaped my craft in the coldest of nations And became its first female director My art was declined by various creations The passion for acting at first was greater I tread on several stages as a thespian I studied at the Moscow Art Theatre My repertoire covered all that was Russian The Keys To Happiness was my screen debut My directorial shift triggered discussion In 1916 I had a big breakthrough My film was praised, unlike my identity My name: masculinised in every review Yet I continued my path incessantly I directed fourteen films and went beyond Academia was another specialty My support towards newcomers was headstrong Also through the Gerasimov Institute I, Olga Preobrazhenskaya, always stood strong I was tackling a medium that was mute My plight was shared by a brilliant sisterhood That could write, perform, edit and of course, shoot It was a mission, not just a livelihood Esfir Shub I admired considerably Her montage of archival reel was so good In The Fall Of The Romanov Dynasty Facts were everything, fiction she would withhold Her work was a visual book of history Aleksandra Khokhlova was also bold The intelligentsia came from family But her artistic path she alone controlled She did not succumb to wicked calumny She was told she did not have the looks to act So she took control of filming skillfully Margarita Barskaya made a huge impact Of both silent films and talkies she took hold Whilst the Brumberg Sisters had properly tracked The new animation technique to behold We were Russian female filmmakers Trying to leave a solid mark in the world We were dreamy artists, not mischief-makers Thus, I was granted the title of Honour I was approved by the policy-makers I was a step away from the embalmer Will recognition come for all at ninety? Good Luck Soviet Female cinema d’auteur!