The HBO Max and France Télévisions series will have its world premiere in Toronto’s Primetime section

Paris-based film and television studio SND, part of French media group M6, has picked up world sales on the high-end period drama “Alice: Pioneer of Cinema,” in which Oscar-nominee Bérénice Bejo (“The Artist”) stars as Alice Guy, the very first female fiction filmmaker. The six-parter, ordered by HBO Max and France Télévisions, is due to world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival‘s Primetime section on Sept. 14, ahead of its airing in December. 

France’s Wild Bunch and Ligne de Front are producing along with Belgium’s Panache Productions, La Compagnie Cinématographique and Canada’s Sphere Media. The big-scale series, created by Tim Loane (“Versailles,” “Das Boot”) and Claire Lemaréchal (“The Bureau”) from a script by André Gulluni (“Rematch”), will also play on the leading Spanish pay TV/SVOD service Movistar Plus+, HBO Max in Belgium and the streamer Crave in Canada. 

Helmed by Virginie Verrier and Guillaume Lonergan, “Alice: Pioneer of Cinema” tells the true story of Alice Guy, who turned from secretary for Gaumont to the first female fiction filmmaker and movie mogul in the late 19th to early 20th century. 

After rising through the ranks at French banner Gaumont, she moves to the U.S., where she builds the first film studio owned by a woman. Despite her extraordinary achievements, she ends up losing it all, and her name fades into oblivion.

A century later, her film pioneering role is finally recognized when she receives a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of America, handed out by Martin Scorsese. Then in 2024, at the Paris Olympic Games, her golden statue rises from the Seine, alongside other female luminaries Simon Veil and Simone de Beauvoir. 

Besides Bejo, the stellar cast takes in Oscar Lesage (“The Substance”), Thibaut Evrard (“Paris Police 1900,” “No Man’s Land”), Irène Jacob (“The Affair; “The Double Life of Véronique”), Sophie Nélisse (“Yellowjackets,” “The Book Thief”) and François Arnaud (“The Borgias,” “Yellowjackets”).

“Every so often, a series arrives with a story so extraordinary you cannot believe it has never been told,” said Alexis Reybet-Degat, SND head of international TV series distribution. “‘Alice’ has the scale and craft of a major production, and a heroine whose fight feels strikingly modern. It is prestige and popular at once, and we are proud to bring it to broadcasters around the world.”

Caroline De Jenlis, producer at Ligne de Front said, “We are thrilled to partner with SND. With their incredible expertise, we are fully confident they will give Alice’s extraordinary story the global showcase it deserves.”

SND will start negotiating the series at the 32nd Unifrance Rendez Vous in Le Havre, unspooling over Sept 7-10. Another prime drama on the sales banner’s slate includes the nuclear warship thriller “R91.”

In Toronto, “Alice: Pioneer of Cinema” will be showcased together with nine premium shows from major players such as A24, Amazon MGM, Netflix and Apple.