The film stars Megan Follows in the title role of Anne Shirley and was produced and directed by Kevin Sullivan for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Upon arriving in the small town of Avonlea, she is met at the train station by the elderly Matthew Cuthbert, who is surprised to find her there.

Matthew and his sister Marilla had originally requested a boy to help them on their farm, Green Gables, but Anne was sent to them by mistake.

Anne soon loses her temper with Marilla's friend and town gossip Rachel Lynde, who criticizes her looks and red hair.

Preferring to return to the orphanage, Anne refuses to apologize, but Matthew convinces her to do so in order to remain at Green Gables.

Rachel accepts the apology and suggests to Marilla that Anne attend a Sunday School picnic so she can meet other children.

While Marilla is away at a political event, Diana arrives in a panic and tells Anne and Matthew that her little sister Minnie May is sick with croup.

Mrs. Barry is grateful and invites Anne to a Christmas ball in Carmody overnight as an apology for forbidding her to see Diana.

She finds out that the graduate who receives the highest mark in English literature wins the Avery scholarship, $250 for four years, which she plans to use to get an arts degree at Redmond College.

While the film diverged from Montgomery's original, he relied on strong characterizations and visuals in order to render the story for a contemporary audience.

During filming of the original movies an open casting call was held throughout Canada in order to find a young actress to play Anne Shirley.

Katharine Hepburn recommended that her great niece, Schuyler Grant, play the role of Anne Shirley.

Megan Follows, Colleen Dewhurst, Jonathan Crombie, Schuyler Grant, and Patricia Hamilton all reprised their roles.

The first two Anne films generated the spin-off television series Road to Avonlea (1990–1996), starring Sarah Polley.

The show explored the lives of residents in the town of Avonlea, drawing inspiration from Montgomery's work beyond the Anne books.

Anne did not appear, but other characters, including Gilbert, Marilla, Rachel Lynde, and Miss Stacy, played supporting parts with the same actors reprising their roles.

Jackie Burroughs, Cedric Smith, and Mag Ruffman returned as main cast members, but in different roles than the original films.

Other Awards The Anne of Green Gables series was released on DVD in a collector's edition set on February 5, 2008 in the US, April 29, 2008 in Canada and Japan and on September 22, 2010 in Hungary.

In addition to the series, it also includes several DVD extras such as feature length commentary from director Kevin Sullivan and Stefan Scaini, 2 New Documentaries: L.M.

In 2016, Sullivan Entertainment announced it would launch their own streaming service called Gazebo TV that would feature the Anne of Green Gables series among other titles produced by the company.

[6][7] The settlement paid Montgomery a flat sum of $18,000; at the time an amount she would have expected to see earned from her works during her lifetime.

[8] After Sullivan's films were successful around the world and brought legions of tourists to Prince Edward Island, the Montgomery heirs established an Anne of Green Gables Licensing Authority with the Province of Prince Edward Island to control trademarks to preserve Montgomery's works, through the mechanism of official trademarks.

[5][9] The heirs and the AGGLA became successful at asserting control over the booming Anne-themed tourist industry that the province enjoyed, because of the lack of clarity about the different protections afforded by copyright, trademark and official marks in Canada.

[9] A Japanese court then determined that the heirs were not entitled to the reversionary rights that they claimed they had sold to Sullivan and that the AGGLA was set up for pursuing private interests and not for serving public interests such as maintaining or managing the value, fame or reputation of the literary work, the author or even the main character of Anne.

The offering however was pulled by the underwriters and Sullivan counter-sued for libel, insisting that the heirs should pay damages of $55 million to all parties involved.

[6][7] The Court further questioned whether the heirs' licensing authority was engaged in activities of sufficient public interest as to qualify as a controlling body of Montgomery's works.

Sullivan's use of the Anne of Green Gables trademarks extends from motion picture products and books, DVDs, CDs etc.

to all commercial merchandise related to Sullivan's films and television series based on their visual images, costume and production designs, settings, themes and original characters.