An internationally celebrated artist, Kaphar didn’t set out to be a filmmaker. “I’m an imagemaker and storyteller, and the film evolved from initially writing down some of my memories,” Kaphar says. “It’s a way to tell a story that could help my children understand my experience and experiences like mine.” His semi-autobiographical debut, “Exhibiting Forgiveness,” was selected for the 2024 Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Dramatic competition.
The film, about a Black painter who grapples with complicated familial relationships when his recovering addict father pays him a visit, forced him to look inward. “On the page, it’s easy to be vulnerable. But now I’m in a situation where it’s not private anymore,” says Kaphar. “My family’s life is implicated in my story.” He says he hoped to tell his, and his father’s, stories honestly.
“It was never my desire to turn him into a villain,” he insists. “I’m showing his humanity and the challenges that he went through and how our lives collided. Not every scene is directly from life, but there is an emotional truth to every single second of this film.”
Kaphar is excited at the prospect of “Exhibiting Forgiveness” reaching an audience. “It has been my experience that the more successful I am in the art world, the more distance there is between me and the community I came from,” he says. “My community will be able to engage with this story in a way that they couldn’t with some of my work in the art world.”
Despite his debut’s deeply personal origins, Kaphar credits his actors (André Holland, Andra Day, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and John Earl Jelks) and producers (Stephanie Allain, Derek Cianfrance, Jamie Patricof and Sean Cotton) for making “Forgiveness” possible. “Don’t pat me on the back,” he says.
— Murtada Elfadl
Reps: Agency: UTA; Legal: Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller, Gellman, Meigs & Fox
Influences: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Spike Lee, Derek Cianfrance