Exhibiting Forgiveness Director Shares the Personal Pain Behind His Film

Art imitates life — and thank goodness for that, we say, after experiencing the recent cinematic achievement of painter-turned-filmmaker Titus Kaphar. The internationally recognized artist has excavated his traumatic past via artistic expression over time, then took it a step further by enlisting top-tier actors to depict parts of his life on the big screen. MovieWeb spoke with Kaphar leading up to the release of Exhibiting Forgiveness, his hard-hitting new drama film starring André Holland and John Earl Jelks as a troubled son and father, respectively, marred by a traumatic past tied to abuse and drug addiction.

Holland (Moonlight, Selma) portrays a talented painter who has found solace in art, decades after suffering at the hands of his tough father. Kaphar opened up to us about the unique process in bringing his personal story to life on film. “I started this project first as a documentary,” Kaphar said, adding:

I went back to Michigan to visit my grandmother, and my father was sitting there on the stoop. And he wanted to talk, and I did not want to talk. But my grandmother insisted. And because I’m a good mama’s boy, I listened to my grandmother and told my father, ‘I’ll talk to you if I get to film you.’ And so that was kind of the beginning of it.

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“The writing process started because I was just trying to find a way to talk to my children about my life and how different my experience was from their experience,” continued Kaphar regarding his groundbreaking passion project. “I wanted them to know me a little bit better after years of telling them: ‘I’ll tell you more when you’re older, I’ll tell you more when you’re older.’ And so I would wake up in the morning about 5:00, and I would start writing.” He went on:

” For about five months, I did this. I would write for a couple of hours, take my kids to school and then go to the studio. When I was in the studio, I had this app on my phone that allows me to listen to what I’ve written for that day. And so I would listen to it while I was making sketches, while I was drawing. It was bringing memories back and pictures back. And so the truth of the matter is, I had a whole body of work and a text by the time I was done with this.”

Related: Exhibiting Forgiveness Review: A Stunning Portrait of Pain & Healing

‘Literally Floored’ By André Holland

Kaphar also praised the masterful performance from André Holland, who he said wasn’t just acting, but rather “manifesting.” He explained this concept using an example from when they were on set, capturing one momentous sequence in particular:

“We were shooting the scene upstairs in the gallery, where Tarrell is talking to his father. Now, that scene happened in real life in my studio, not in the gallery. And after the scene in real life happened, I was able to brush it off. I was like, ‘Man, I just got to get back to work.’ You’ve got to go, ‘Whatever.’ But when I watched André say the same things that I said, go through what I went through, it broke me.”

“I was floored, literally floored,” explained Kaphar. “I had to leave the set and lay myself down in a dark room on the floor for half an hour, and I just sat there and I sobbed, just letting waves of tears roll over me, and that was because of André’s ability to pull the truth out of the text.” You can see how it all takes place in Exhibiting Forgiveness, now playing in theaters from Roadside Attractions.

Exhibiting Forgiveness is a drama film written and directed by Titus Kaphar and released in 2024. A Black artist on the rise to fame has his future thrown in jeopardy when his estranged father arrives seeking to reconnect with his son, only to discover that forgiveness is only one part of the uphill battle to recovery.

Release Date

October 18, 2024

Director

Titus Kaphar

Cast

Andre Holland , John Earl Jelks , Andra Day , Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor

Runtime

117 Minutes

Writers

Titus Kaphar

Studio(s)

Homegrown Pictures , Shade Pictures , Hunting Lane Films

Distributor(s)

Roadside Attractions

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