There is so much power in forgiveness, and the new film Exhibiting Forgiveness explores the nuances of the sentiment.

Starring André Holland, Andra Day, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, John Earl Jelks and Ian Foreman, the film gives viewers an inside glimpse of the nuances of forgiving someone who wronged them. Beyond simply being a story of showing others and oneself mercy, it is also a tale of redemption and how art can heal.

“There is this writer and a friend of mine. His name is Christian A. Smith, and he says forgiveness requires the renegotiation of boundaries,” writer and director Titus Kaphar told Blavity’s Shadow and Act in our interview with the cast. “I don’t think we think of forgiveness that way. I think, ultimately, we think of forgiveness as this idea where I did this thing, and if I really forgave you, then I could just forget it, and it would be cool, and we would be able to go have a beer together and hang out. And that is not the truth.”

He added, “The thing I learned about forgiveness through this process is you can forgive someone and walk the other direction. You can forgive someone and unfriend them. You can forgive someone and decide we’re not good together anymore. Forgiveness is not about whether or not you reconcile. Forgiveness and reconciliation are two different things. Forgiveness is saying I’m no longer carrying this burden. You don’t owe me that debt. You are free from it, but I am making a decision to go the direction that I need to go to be healthy.”

What is ‘Exhibiting Forgiveness’ about?

According to a summary for Exhibiting Forgiveness, the film follows Tarrell (Holland), an admired American painter who lives with his wife, singer Aisha (Day), and their young son, Jermaine. Tarrell’s artwork excavates beauty from the anguish of his youth, keeping past wounds at bay. His path to success is derailed by an unexpected visit from his estranged father, La’Ron (Jelks), a conscience-stricken man desperate to reconcile.

Tarrell’s mother, Joyce (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), a pious woman with a profound and joyful spirituality, hopes that Tarrell can open his heart to forgiveness, giving them all another chance at being a family. Tarrell and La’Ron learn that forgetting might be a greater challenge than forgiving.

The biggest misconception about forgiveness

For the main character, Tarrell, forgiveness is no easy feat, and actor Andrè Holland shared the biggest misconception about the theme that he took away from being a part of the project.

“I grew up in the Black church, you know, in which we were taught to turn the other cheek and forgive, and I think there’s a place for that, but also what this movie, I think, is trying to communicate is that you can forgive and also be boundaried around yourself,” Holland said. “You can take care of yourself.”

In the film, John Earl Jelks, who plays his father, La’Ron, echoed a similar sentiment.

“I believe that forgiveness may not look like what I wanted it to look like from my own perspective, and I had to be okay with that,” Jelks expressed. “I think this movie taught me some of that, and like Andrè was saying, you have to draw boundaries sometimes. Forgiving doesn’t necessarily mean forgetting.”

Andra Day also shines in the film as Aisha, the wife of Holland’s character, Tarrell. She expressed gratitude for the role, noting how healthy and balanced she is.

“The truth is that is what I loved about her,” Day shared. “Once I read her character, I was so excited to play her because I often play a little bit more damaged people. What I love about her character, though she does still come from trauma, we’ve sort of decided that her and her husband actually share similar family backgrounds, and so I love that Aisha is healed enough to have made a decision about her life, to say that I will not repeat those things. … I want to make sure that I have healthy boundaries. I want to make sure that I keep my husband and my family and I grounded in the promises that we made to each other about our careers, about our space, you know, about the things that we need. So that is really, that’s something I very, very much admire about Aisha. She’s such a grounding force.”

Using art to heal

As a renowned visual artist, Kaphar entered a new territory in the film industry.

“I think fundamentally this film is not about generational trauma. I think this film is about generational healing. I think we have to show a moment of trauma to help you understand what we are coming out of,” Kaphar said. “But it is the art and the artistic practice that become the vehicle for this one individual artist to bring healing to himself and to his family.”

Day echoed the same feelings about using art as much more than a coping mechanism, and the film’s star, Holland, even went as far as to learn how to paint for the role.

“I think all of it is healing, truly,” she said. “A: I’m a huge proponent of art as therapy because I went to a performing arts school, and that was such a blessing because to be able to process my environment through art is really powerful because the part of the brain that art requires is a brain that helps you sort of synthesize other aspects of your life, information, and other aspects of your life, whether it’s social interaction or just comprehension, anything.”

She added, “I’m a huge proponent of that, but also it’s, for me, spiritual, and it’s scriptural as well. There’s always this scripture that I love where there was a famine in the land, and in order to fix the water or the sickness or the famine, one of the things the prophet says is bring me someone to play the lair, which would be like, modern-day, harp or possibly guitar, and nothing could be healed or fixed until the musician played something, and that always stood out to me. That’s the goal of art, is to be healing.”

Foreman, who plays the young version of Tarrell, also spoke about how safe the set was, given the fact this is such an emotional project.

“I feel like it’s always great when you have cast members who uplift you, and they are also great actors, so that you’re able to play off of them,” said Foreman. “I felt so safe [in this environment]. Safety is a big thing for me– when I feel safe, I feel that I am able to do good work. This was a very emotional film, so I’m glad that I felt comfortable enough to do the work that I did.”

“Working under both of them [Jelks and Kaphar] was really cool because Titus explained everything in a way that I understood, and John being the amazing actor that he is, it made it easy for me to play off him.”

Exhibiting Forgiveness is now in theaters. Watch the full interview below.

James Earl Jelks

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