Female
Married to fellow African American James Gist who she filmed Hell Bound Train with, among other amateur films. According to the Women Film Pioneers project, Gist was a co-director, co-producer, screenwriter and film editor. Eloyce was of the Bahá’í faith while her husband was a Christian evangelical. The couple had a goal of producing entertaining films with strong moral and spiritual mission. Both worked together to find audiences in the African American community and churches, ran low budgets with non-professional actors and made 16mm films to accompany religious services. Tepperman (2014) notes that all their films featured religious parables, featured all-black casts and some films were sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Morgan, Kyna. "Eloyce King Patrick Gist." In Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal, and Monica Dall’Asta, eds. Women Film Pioneers Project. Center for Digital Research and Scholarship. New York, NY: Columbia University Libraries, 2013.
For a discussion of the Gists and Amateur Relgious filmmaking see: Tepperman, Charles. Amateur Cinema: The Rise of North American Moviemaking, 1923-1960. University of California Press, 2014.
Amateur Cinema