In an upcoming interview that’s long overdue, I will be introducing you to Maggie Hadleigh-West, a film director who took several leaps of faith to capture the kind of stories that are not seen on your local morning (or evening) TV news shows.
Embarking on the documentary “Player Hating: A Love Story,” about a young hip-hop artist who has a record deal and plans to use his debut album as his ticket out of the projects, she risked her safety – and that of her interview subjects – to highlight the grim realities that some of us are privileged to not having ever experienced in our lifetimes.
On Maggie’s first day of production at the Brownsville Housing Projects, some neighborhood teenagers robbed her film crew – stealing their equipment and almost blowing her cameraman’s brains out with a 9mm pistol. When the rapper she was working with dropped out for safety reasons, her search for a new main character of the film led to the Albany Projects in the Crown Heights neighborhood, where lyricist Half-a-Mill (who was managed by a former NYPD detective) became the subject of this movie. Half’s protection by Brooklyn Bloods also extended to Maggie but she eventually obtained her own security while filming the rest of “Player Hating: A Love Story.”
Blood Sport, one of the founding members of the Crown Heights Chapter of the Brooklyn Bloods, was among Half’s many associates that Maggie came to know while making her movie. He lost his mother to homicide after she was raped and then thrown off of a building.
While many of us do not know what it’s like to lose a friend or loved one to such violent deaths, we all share the common grief and possibly even anger that accompanies the loss of anyone closest to us. We also know what it’s like to feel abandoned or less important to the entities that are supposed to serve and protect our communities. Yet, there is very little concern for the fires, gas leaks, missing persons and homicides that go unnoticed in the media headlines nationwide – probably due to a mentality of people not having to “deal” with the troubles that are present in what has become a melting pot for fear and hopelessness.
I have no idea how one would go about exploring, and even attempt to address, all of the issues that plague the poverty stricken areas of our nation but I’ve wondered -- how does a filmmaker -- any filmmaker -- literally put herself or himself in harm’s way for a labor of love that focuses on day-to-day realities that a lot of people prefer to avoid and/or even refuse to acknowledge? Maggie’s experiences in making “Player Hating: A Love Story” is just one example of the lengths that many filmmakers are willing to go to bring their work to fruition.
As I try to scream and throw my hands up to rid the stress of finishing my own movie, I hope – for the sake of every filmmakers’ sanity and health, no matter where they are in the world -- it’s all worth the hassles in the end. Maggie is one of the filmmakers whose work is a reminder that some of the challenges that we face are not as bad as they seem to us at the moment. I mean, if you aren’t in a workplace or situation where it’s likely you will be shot at any given time (as Maggie and her associates were while making this movie), then chances are you’re doing just fine.
Stay tuned for an interview with one of the most daring women directors of our time!
*Also, tomorrow’s Monday Movie Meme will be posted in the evening.