SND Swoops on Toronto-Bound Bérénice Bejo Starrer ‘Alice: Pioneer of Cinema’ Ahead of Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Le Havre (EXCLUSIVE)
Paris-based studio SND, part of French media group M6, has acquired world sales rights to "Alice: Pioneer of Cinema", a high-end period drama starring Oscar nominee Bérénice Bejo as Alice Guy, the first female fiction filmmaker. The six-part series, commissioned by HBO Max and France Télévisions, will premiere in Toronto Film Festival's Primetime section before airing in December, with SND set to begin sales talks at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Le Havre.
The series traces Guy's journey from a secretary at Gaumont to a pioneering director and studio owner in the US, whose achievements were largely forgotten until posthumous recognition, including a Directors Guild of America award and a statue unveiled at the 2024 Paris Olympics. It is produced by Wild Bunch, Ligne de Front, Panache Productions, La Compagnie Cinématographique and Sphere Media, directed by Virginie Verrier and Guillaume Lonergan, and also features Oscar Lesage, Thibaut Evrard, Irène Jacob, Sophie Nélisse and François Arnaud. Beyond its Toronto premiere on 14 September, the show will also broadcast on Movistar Plus+ in Spain, HBO Max in Belgium and Crave in Canada.
- SND acquires world sales for Bérénice Bejo drama "Alice: Pioneer of Cinema"
- Six-part HBO Max/France Télévisions series premieres in Toronto on 14 September
- Tells true story of pioneering filmmaker Alice Guy, forgotten then honoured
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Alice Guy is widely credited as the first person to direct a fiction film, having risen from secretary to studio boss at the French company Gaumont before moving to the United States to run her own studio. For decades her role in cinema's early history was largely overlooked, and it is only relatively recently that she has received formal recognition, including a posthumous industry award and a monument unveiled at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Her story is now the basis of a six-part scripted drama made for HBO Max and France Télévisions, with actress Bérénice Bejo playing Guy. The series is a joint effort between several French and Canadian production companies, and it is being sold internationally to broadcasters, a process that typically happens at industry sales events and film festivals.
This matters because it reflects a wider effort in the film and TV industry to revisit overlooked figures in cinema history, particularly women whose early contributions were not widely acknowledged at the time. The project's path to air, from festival premiere to distribution deals in different countries, also illustrates how international television drama gets financed, sold and brought to audiences worldwide.
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