Euzhan Palcy is a film director, writer and producer from
Martinique, French West Indies. She is notable for being the first black woman director produced by a major Hollywood studio (
MGM), for
A Dry White Season, as well as being the only woman filmmaker to have directed
Marlon Brando, whom she brought back to the screen after a gap of nine years. Palcy is the first black director (male or female) to direct an actor to an oscar nomination and the first black to win a
César Award, the highest French film award. She is also the first black director to win of a Venice Film Festival Award (
Silver Lion).