In this 2003 photo provided by Patricia Williams is Joan Micklin Silver as she is being interviewed by Kenneth Turan at the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass. (Patricia Williams via AP)LOS ANGELES – Joan Micklin Silver, who forged a path for female directors and independent filmmakers with movies including “Hester Street” and “Crossing Delancey,” has died. Silver died from vascular dementia Thursday at her home in New York, her daughter Claudia Silver told The Associated Press. The two lived in Cleveland for the first 11 years of their marriage and had three daughters while Joan Micklin Silver wrote plays for community theater. Joan Micklin Silver is survived by daughters Claudia, Marisa and Dina Silver, sister Renee, and five grandchildren.