Jessie Maple

Producer/director Jessie Maple was a groundbreaking if rarely heralded figure in the history of African-American cinema who, with her 1981 film "Will," became the first woman of color to produce and direct an independent feature. Born in Louisiana in 1947, Maple initially worked as a bacteriologist and journalist, but moved into filmmaking as a means of addressing what she perceived as an abundance of negative images of African-Americans in film and television. After studying film at the New York public television station WNET and later with Ossie Davis' Third World Cinema, Maple worked as an apprentice editor on "Shaft's Big Score" (1972) and "The Super Cops" (1974), a pair of action features for MGM by photographer-turned-director Gordon Parks. The experience should have been enough to gain her admittance into the New York cinematographer's union, and later, the International Photographers of Motion Pictures, but she was forced to sue to fight against discriminatory practices in place at both unions; after much legal wrangling, Maple was the first African-American woman to join their ranks. For much of the 1970s, she divided her time between working as cameraperson and assistant editor on television programs produced in New York, including the long-running public affairs series "Like It Is" (WABC, 1968-2011). With her husband, Leroy Patton, she also formed LJ Film Productions, which produced several short documentaries, including "Methadone: Evil Spirit or Wonder Drug" (1975-76), which explored the use of methadone to curb heroin addiction. The couple's primary goal was to produce a feature film, which came to pass in 1981 with "Will," a drama produced and directed by Maple about a basketball coach battling drug addiction while also trying to raise a young homeless boy with his own drug problems. The drama - the first independent feature ever produced by an African-American woman - was well received on the festival circuit, and was followed in 1988 by a second feature, a drama about twin sisters who play basketball called "Twice as Nice," in 1988. Between film projects, Maple also launched 20 West, an independent theater for black films and filmmakers like Spike Lee, in her brownstone apartment in Harlem. Jessie Maple died on May 30, 2023 in Atlanta, GA.