Renowned painter Titus Kaphar wanted to tell a story about family, specifically his family. But he wanted a much larger canvas to work on this time, and so he decided to make a movie. Exhibiting Forgiveness is Kaphar’s directorial debut, a challenging, agonizing, and yet hopeful self-portrait that does the title justice. The story follows the reunion of a painter and family man who is reunited with his estranged father, a recovering addict seeking forgiveness.
But what does forgiveness mean? Is it something that we just give to those who ask for it? Are we merely exhibiting forgiveness if we offer it without it having any true value? These questions swirl as the artist also copes with his own demons, a wife and young son who need him, and an ailing mother who wants to see both men shed the weight they’ve been carrying.
Kaphar puts his experiences and his art out there for the world to see, in all of their painful glory. A recipient of the MacArthur genius grant whose companion art pieces are currently showing at Gagosian in Beverly Hills, Kaphar spoke with me about the unique challenge debuting a movie to the public, in contrast to premiering his paintings. We talked about the true meaning of forgiveness, the message he hopes to send to audiences, and of course, how he assembled such an incredible cast.
The film stars André Holland, John Earl Jelks, Andra Day and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, and all are incredible, as expected. I spoke with each of them about their experiences working with Kaphar on Exhibiting Forgiveness. For most of them, he was the big reason they all wanted to sign on, having been admirers of his work. They also talked about the power of the story he wanted to tell, and the emotional toll of playing such fully-formed characters carrying the weight of regret, resentment, and more.
I saw Exhibiting Forgiveness at Sundance, and found it to be one of the most striking directorial debuts I’ve ever seen. It was my pleasure to speak with Kaphar and his cast about this extraordinary film, so please check out those interviews below.
Exhibiting Forgiveness opens in theaters on October 18th.
