Will

Jessie Maple became one of the first Black women to direct an independent feature film with this raw, unflinching portrait of heroin addiction and recovery. Shot on location in Harlem with a budget of $12,000, Will stars Obaka Adedunyo as the titular character, a former All-American basketball star who has fallen from grace because of his dependence on junk. As he finally finds a renewed sense of purpose, dangerous temptations loom for Will and his street-tough mentee, Little Brother (Robert Dean). This groundbreaking landmark of Black cinema was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress, and embodies Maple’s trailblazing determination to reflect the stories of her community onscreen.

Restored from the 16mm camera negative and magnetic sound elements by 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, with generous funding provided by the SI-NMAAHC Robert Frederick Smith Center for the Digitization and Curation of African American History.

Selected for preservation by the Library of Congress, this groundbreaking landmark of Black cinema embodies Maple’s trailblazing determination to reflect the stories of her community onscreen. A Janus Films Release.