Renegade Women in Film and TV

Okay, most of us are not in the film and television industry. Nevertheless, this is a fun book to read, even if the closest the reader gets to film land is their TV screen. The illustrations by Austen Claire Clements are wonderful. While the interviews are not very revealing, the profiles of early women in film, heretofore unknown to me, were enlightening. I wonder, however, why Mary Ellis Bunim, who virtually invented reality TV, was not included. The back of the book includes more female pioneers in brief sketches. An “Essential Viewing” section, also in the back of the book, lists credits of the women included in the main book. This is a handy section for those of us who are intrigued enough to look at the film work of these pioneers.

Especially now when the film and television industry is facing up to the me-too movement, this book is particularly timely and relevant. If women are too little known for their support of other women, this book is quite welcome.

The book begins with a profile of a filmmaker born in 1873, Alice Guy-Blache. I knew of her film, but not of her life or contributions. This book remedies that exclusion.