The Great Departure: The House of Erydia (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780692024553)

A native of Portsmouth, Virginia, DeForest Mapp grew up learning how to crab with his educator father and brothers off the calm waters of the James River, just inside the Chesapeake Bay. It was through his parents' teachings that DeForest gained a healthy respect for the concerns of others, education, hard work, and pursuing one's dreams. His father, also a trombone player, put the trumpet in DeForest's hands at the age of 11. DeForest, the oldest of five children, would spend hours upon hours lost in the acoustics of the "blue" bathroom in his parents' home. But as he grew in teenage years, DeForest noticed the troubling effects that poverty, a lack of education, and sometimes one parent raising a family had in a naval shipyard community. This would birth a desire in Mapp to show the beauty of the African American community through film, television, and music. After receiving a MBA from Tennessee State University, DeForest Kenneth Mapp began pursuing a career in film by joining the Production team at Warner Bros. Studios in 2003. Here, he worked on the following feature films: The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Superman, Catwoman, Scooby Doo, Lucky You, The Last Samurai, and Constantine. DeForest would then decide to direct and produce his own films under his banner, SunFace Entertainment. Mapp won an award for his film "Glance" and soon after, released "How to Use a Pillow". Mapp's latest efforts qualified him for the Academy's Live Action Short Category with his film, "Say You Say Me", a day in the life of Lionel Richie entitled "Say You Say Me".