Ferdinand Zecca was a pioneer French film director, film producer, actor and screenwriter.
12 Facts About Ferdinand Zecca
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Ferdinand Zecca worked primarily for the Pathe company, first in artistic endeavors then in administration of the internationally based company.
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Ferdinand Louis Zecca was born in Paris on 19 February 1864 into an Italian family steeped in the entertainment world.
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Ferdinand Zecca's father was the stage manager at the Paris Theatre de l'Ambigu while his brothers were actors.
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Ferdinand Zecca was playing the cornet at the Foire au Pain d'epices, when he encountered filmmaker Leon Gaumont.
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From 1891, Ferdinand Zecca had worked occasionally recording voice-overs for phonograph records for the Pathe Freres company, a pioneer in the cinema and audio recording industries.
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In 1900, unable to personally do the work, Charles Pathe had Ferdinand Zecca set up the Pathe pavilion in the Paris World Fair.
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Ferdinand Zecca explored many themes from the mundane to the fantastic.
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Ferdinand Zecca pioneered one of the first crime dramas, Histoire d'un crime, stylistically innovative in its use of superimposition.
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Ferdinand Zecca co-directed La Vie et la passion de Jesus Christ, which, at a running time of 44 minutes, was one of the first feature-length films about Jesus.
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Between 1900 and 1907, Zecca oversaw the production of hundreds of Pathe films from many important Pathe directors including Nonguet Lucien, Gaston Velle, Albert Capellani, Louis J Gasnier, Andre Heuze and Henri Pouctal.
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Ferdinand Zecca returned to France in 1919, where as a co-director with Rene Leprincee, he made Le Calvaire d'une reine, his last film.