In My Father's House is a deeply personal tale that explores themes of fatherhood, forgiveness and personal redemption. After buying his father's childhood home, grammy award winning hip-hop artist Che 'Rhymefest' Smith goes in search of his father and discovers his father is a homeless alcoholic living only several blocks away. Che and Brian (Che's father) reunite and try to build a new future.
IMFH won Bentonville Film Festival's Jury Award for Best Documentary. Bentonville Film Festival's mission is to focus on content that exemplifies the growing diversity of the American landscape. BFF provides a platform to significantly increase the commercial value of content produced by minorities and women. Because of their efforts, I was fortunate enough to catch an Atlanta screening of this award winning film.
IMFH won Bentonville Film Festival's Jury Award for Best Documentary. Bentonville Film Festival's mission is to focus on content that exemplifies the growing diversity of the American landscape. BFF provides a platform to significantly increase the commercial value of content produced by minorities and women. Because of their efforts, I was fortunate enough to catch an Atlanta screening of this award winning film.
I thought the film would be painful for me to watch as I can personally relate to having a drug addicted father who wasn't around. There were uncomfortable moments like watching the behaviors of Brian while he was deep in his addiction. There were tears shed seeing the raw emotion of an arts education student as he shared his truth. But mostly, I found In My Father's House to be very refreshing and uplifting to watch.
At its core, it's the story of a son and his father on a shared journey to create a new legacy for themselves, their community and the next generation of family. There's a lot of love and plenty of laughter throughout this movie. Also, it was very satisfying to see a happy ending play out in a very realistic way.
At its core, it's the story of a son and his father on a shared journey to create a new legacy for themselves, their community and the next generation of family. There's a lot of love and plenty of laughter throughout this movie. Also, it was very satisfying to see a happy ending play out in a very realistic way.
After the movie, there was a panel discussion with Che 'Rhymefest' Smith, Grammy award winning soul singer Anthony Hamilton and the movie's producer Jameka Autry. The Q&A style discussion focused on the emotional impact of children being raised without a father.
You can follow and continue the discussion by following @IMFHFilm on Twitter or #BFFfestival or #ShareYourTruth hashtags on social media.
The messages below were shared at the discussion and spoke to me personally:
1. You can't choose your family and the experiences you have but you can choose how you navigate through those experiences. Growing up in a family plagued by addiction, I could have easily chosen that life too or let it negatively effect my relationships with other people.
2. There are blessings in the pain. Has something ever happened to you and you don't know the reason behind it but in hindsight you discover it was for the best? Had I lived with both my parents and their turbulent relationship and his addiction, how would THAT have impacted me life? That path would likely have been far more detrimental.
3. We all have flaws but that doesn't mean we aren't good people. My father had a good heart and was a kind soul. I know he loved me and all of his children. He was flawed though like everyone else in the world.
In My Father's House is available on iTunes and VUDU and would make a great family gift for the holidays. I encourage you to check it out it for yourself. Even if you can't relate to the heavy themes, the movie is thought-provoking, hopeful and positive. It encourages love and true forgiveness.
Have you seen In My Father's House? What did you think of it?
