“Exhibiting Forgiveness” originally started as a documentary. But, writer and director Titus Kaphar quickly realized that wouldn’t be the proper format for the autobiographical story he wanted to tell. In fact, it would be downright “insufficient.”
Debuting at the Sundance Film Festival this year, the film tells the story of a Black artist striving to use his paintings to find freedom from his past. But, when his estranged father, a recovering addict, shows up hoping to reconcile, everything changes. Together, they have to figure out a path forward.
Stopping by TheWrap’s Sundance Portrait and Interview Studio presented by NFP with his stars, Kaphar explained that, though this story definitely came from his own life, he knew almost immediately that it couldn’t be a documentary — even though he tried to make it one at first.