UK Premiere of 4K Restoration: Will

Jessie Maple writes, directs and produces the first independent feature by a Black woman.

  • Director

    Jessie Maple

  • With

    Loretta Devine, Obaka Adedunyo

  • USA 1981. 73min

  • Digital 4K (restoration)

Jessie Maple is believed to be the first Black woman to produce, write and direct an independent feature. Set in 1980s Harlem, Will follows its troubled protagonist, a former college basketball star, now battling addiction and unemployment. Maple’s sensitive direction captures the tension between self-determination and navigating formidable institutional challenges. Loretta Devine shines in her first screen role.

Contains graphic depictions of drug use.

The new 4K restoration was a joint project between the Black Film Center & Archive (BFCA), the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture’s Time-Based Media Archives and Conservation staff, and the Center for African American Media Arts.