Elisabeth-Christine Muelsch is Professor of French and Chair of the Film Studies Committee at Angelo State University (USA). She has published on Nineteenth-Century French Literature, cinematic adaptations of Naturalist novels and plays, and women film directors. She is co-editor of the journal Excavatio and serves on the Editorial Board of Women in French Studies. Carla Mereu Keating is Honorary Senior Research Associate in the Department of Film and Television of the University of Bristol (UK) and teaching fellow at the University of Cagliari (Italy). She is co-author of Film Studios in Britain, France, Germany and Italy (2026) and co-editor of the special issue Gender and Labour in the Italian Audiovisual Industries (2023).

• Figures and IllustrationsAcknowledgementsContributorsIntroduction: Women’s Film Careers in Interwar EuropeElisabeth-Christine Muelsch and Carla Mereu KeatingPart I. Working Above and Below-the-Line1. (Un)Sound Ladies: Movie Workers in Interwar ItalyCarla Mereu Keating2. The Women Behind the Screen: Depictions in the French PressMyriam JuanPart II. Counter Narrative Cinema and Animation in Paris3. Solange Bussi – A Forgotten Film DirectorElisabeth-Christine Muelsch4. Colette’s Cinematic Sisterhood: Feminism and Mentorship in La Vagabonde from Novel to ScreenDezirae Shukla5. Vilma Kiss –Vilma von Kish – Wilma de Quiche (1885-1943): A Hungarian Animation Artist in ParisAnna KopócsyPart III. Championing Czechoslovak Avantgarde and Flemish Fiction Sound Films6. Zet Molas: A Czech Female Film Director with a French SpiritTomáš Hubáček 7. Edith Kiel, Founding Mother of Flemish Fiction Sound FilmsRoel Vande Winkel and Dirk van EngelandPart IV. Making Film in Weimar Germany and Norway8. Bauhaus Women and FilmKristina Jaspers9. With Kinamo and Courage: Ella Bergmann-Michel and the Medium of FilmAnna Katherina Heizmann10. Ms. Film Producer: Aud Egede-NissenMaria Fosheim LundAfterword: A Tenacious Gaze. Women’s and Film StudiesLucia Cardone

Elisabeth-Christine Muelsch is Professor of French and Chair of the Film Studies Committee at Angelo State University (USA). She has published on Nineteenth-Century French Literature, cinematic adaptations of Naturalist novels and plays, and women film directors. She is co-editor of the journal Excavatio and serves on the Editorial Board of Women in French Studies. Carla Mereu Keating is Honorary Senior Research Associate in the Department of Film and Television of the University of Bristol (UK) and teaching fellow at the University of Cagliari (Italy). She is co-author of Film Studios in Britain, France, Germany and Italy (2026) and co-editor of the special issue Gender and Labour in the Italian Audiovisual Industries (2023).

• Figures and IllustrationsAcknowledgementsContributorsIntroduction: Women’s Film Careers in Interwar EuropeElisabeth-Christine Muelsch and Carla Mereu KeatingPart I. Working Above and Below-the-Line1. (Un)Sound Ladies: Movie Workers in Interwar ItalyCarla Mereu Keating2. The Women Behind the Screen: Depictions in the French PressMyriam JuanPart II. Counter Narrative Cinema and Animation in Paris3. Solange Bussi – A Forgotten Film DirectorElisabeth-Christine Muelsch4. Colette’s Cinematic Sisterhood: Feminism and Mentorship in La Vagabonde from Novel to ScreenDezirae Shukla5. Vilma Kiss –Vilma von Kish – Wilma de Quiche (1885-1943): A Hungarian Animation Artist in ParisAnna KopócsyPart III. Championing Czechoslovak Avantgarde and Flemish Fiction Sound Films6. Zet Molas: A Czech Female Film Director with a French SpiritTomáš Hubáček 7. Edith Kiel, Founding Mother of Flemish Fiction Sound FilmsRoel Vande Winkel and Dirk van EngelandPart IV. Making Film in Weimar Germany and Norway8. Bauhaus Women and FilmKristina Jaspers9. With Kinamo and Courage: Ella Bergmann-Michel and the Medium of FilmAnna Katherina Heizmann10. Ms. Film Producer: Aud Egede-NissenMaria Fosheim LundAfterword: A Tenacious Gaze. Women’s and Film StudiesLucia Cardone

Elisabeth-Christine Muelsch is Professor of French and Chair of the Film Studies Committee at Angelo State University (USA). She has published on Nineteenth-Century French Literature, cinematic adaptations of Naturalist novels and plays, and women film directors. She is co-editor of the journal Excavatio and serves on the Editorial Board of Women in French Studies. Carla Mereu Keating is Honorary Senior Research Associate in the Department of Film and Television of the University of Bristol (UK) and teaching fellow at the University of Cagliari (Italy). She is co-author of Film Studios in Britain, France, Germany and Italy (2026) and co-editor of the special issue Gender and Labour in the Italian Audiovisual Industries (2023).

• Figures and IllustrationsAcknowledgementsContributorsIntroduction: Women’s Film Careers in Interwar EuropeElisabeth-Christine Muelsch and Carla Mereu KeatingPart I. Working Above and Below-the-Line1. (Un)Sound Ladies: Movie Workers in Interwar ItalyCarla Mereu Keating2. The Women Behind the Screen: Depictions in the French PressMyriam JuanPart II. Counter Narrative Cinema and Animation in Paris3. Solange Bussi – A Forgotten Film DirectorElisabeth-Christine Muelsch4. Colette’s Cinematic Sisterhood: Feminism and Mentorship in La Vagabonde from Novel to ScreenDezirae Shukla5. Vilma Kiss –Vilma von Kish – Wilma de Quiche (1885-1943): A Hungarian Animation Artist in ParisAnna KopócsyPart III. Championing Czechoslovak Avantgarde and Flemish Fiction Sound Films6. Zet Molas: A Czech Female Film Director with a French SpiritTomáš Hubáček 7. Edith Kiel, Founding Mother of Flemish Fiction Sound FilmsRoel Vande Winkel and Dirk van EngelandPart IV. Making Film in Weimar Germany and Norway8. Bauhaus Women and FilmKristina Jaspers9. With Kinamo and Courage: Ella Bergmann-Michel and the Medium of FilmAnna Katherina Heizmann10. Ms. Film Producer: Aud Egede-NissenMaria Fosheim LundAfterword: A Tenacious Gaze. Women’s and Film StudiesLucia Cardone