Joyce Lee
Writer, Producer, Actor
Joyce Lee is a Chicago native and graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she earned an MFA in Acting. Joyce is an emerging producer, writer, and director who reimagined a real-life account into Essence of Innocence, a film that invites audiences to feel and reflect. Her work invites others to reflect on the sufferings of the world and join in the conversation.
As a writer and director, Joyce created Nino and the Principal’s Daughter, a play exploring peer pressure that toured middle schools across Los Angeles County. Her stage production The Dean’s Office premiered at the Hollywood Fringe Festival and won the Best of Broadwater Theatre. She also directed Freedom Child, a powerful drama based on Dr. Bernadette McAllister’s childhood experiences marching in The Children’s Crusade in Birmingham, Alabama, where she faced the brutal force of Bull Connor.
Joyce was awarded the William and Eva Fox Fellowship to study in Ghana, where she produced and directed The Ethnic Groups of Ghana. A member of SAG-AFTRA, AEA, and The Actors Studio, she also served as co-chair to the Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers West.
Joyce continues to teach, perform, and create—with her current focus on completing a documentary highlighting the untold stories of founding members of the Nation of Islam.
Love Joel Aryeetey
Director, Producer
Love Joel Aryeetey, CEO & President at LJ Creative PICTURES brings his producing, directing and editing skills to Essence of Innocence.
Joel’s journey in film and television began in the United Kingdom, where he earned a Master’s in Film and Television from Leeds Beckett University. His career spans international work, including an internship at Channel 4 (London); directing the feature Rituals of Fire (screened in the UK, Germany, and Ghana); creating two PBS documentaries: Yaa Asantewaa and Haiti: The Sleeping Giant, and The Black and White World of Paul Robeson. After moving to the U.S., Joel co-developed the TV show Father Benjamin for UPN and has since worked with industry leaders such as FOX and Deluxe on major films including Captain America, Hansel and Gretel, and Titanic 3D. Joel recently served as Editor, VFX Supervisor, and Executive Producer for Benjamin Troubles, now streaming on Apple TV. His editing credits include campaigns for iPhone, Samsung, GM, Ford, Xbox, and McDonald’s.
Joel and Joyce worked together in Ghana, West Africa, where she played an African-American wife to a tormented Ghanaian husband in Accra Dreams — a film Joel wrote and directed. Nineteen years later, they crossed paths again in downtown Los Angeles: he was editing a project, and she was teaching theatre to youth who were navigating adversity. Joel and Joyce share a love for storytelling that confronts truth, honors memory, and touches the heart.