The Foolishness of God follows African American filmmaker Karen Hayes’ 15-year journey with the Nobel laureate—and asks whether justice and forgiveness can coexist
Nationwide — The Foolishness of God: A Forgiveness Journey with Desmond Tutu, an intimate documentary from African American filmmaker Karen Hayes, will open the 16th Festival International des Films de la Diaspora Africaine (FIFDA Paris) Friday, September 4, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. at Cinéma CGR Paris Lilas. Co-producer and story editor Rana Kazkaz will join Hayes for the opening and post-screening discussion.
The opening marks a milestone for two Black women committed to expanding whose stories reach the screen: Hayes and producer and executive producer Sandra Evers-Manly, the Emmy Award-winning founder and president of the Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center (BHERC). Evers-Manly has been an ardent supporter of Hayes and the film’s mission to bring stories of justice, reconciliation, and healing to global audiences.
“For more than 33 years, I have worked to ensure that Black women and diverse filmmakers are not only invited into the room but supported in bringing their own visions and truths to the screen,” Evers-Manly said. “Karen Hayes has created a courageous film shaped by her journey as a Black woman, activist and filmmaker. Supporting her work is about preserving our history, widening the world’s understanding and ensuring that overlooked storytellers are seen and heard.”
The Foolishness of God follows Hayes as she accompanies Tutu across more than 15 years and several defining chapters of modern history. Beginning with South Africa’s first democratic election, the documentary moves through the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and later reconciliation efforts in the Solomon Islands.
Hayes begins the journey expecting to make a film about justice. Her assumptions are shaken in Rwanda when, after weeping at a massacre site, Tutu visits imprisoned perpetrators and asks survivors to consider forgiveness. Hayes questions whether forgiveness can coexist with accountability—or whether it asks too much of those who have already endured unimaginable harm.
“When Archbishop Desmond Tutu invited me to film his life and work, I thought I was going to be making a film about justice,” Hayes said. “But he had a different intention: to persuade the world to forgive the unforgivable.”
Through rare footage, encounters with survivors and perpetrators, and Hayes’ candid questioning of Tutu, the film examines forgiveness not as forgetting or excusing injustice, but as a possible means of reclaiming dignity and power. The journey becomes personal when Hayes confronts unresolved pain in her own family, and Tutu reveals his regret over never reconciling with his father.
What begins as a portrait of a global moral leader becomes an intimate exploration of restorative justice, healing and the difficult choices required to break cycles of violence. At its center is an urgent question: Can truth, justice and forgiveness inhabit the same space?
Evers-Manly is also an executive producer of A Better Way: James Lawson, Architect of Nonviolence, another Karen Hayes documentary preserving the legacy of a transformative Black leader and examining nonviolence as a strategy for social change.
Kazkaz helped shape the film as co-producer and story editor, bringing an international storytelling perspective to its exploration of justice, memory, and reconciliation. Her participation in Paris will expand the opening-night conversation about the film’s creative journey and global relevance.
ABOUT KAREN HAYES
Karen Hayes is a filmmaker, producer, and activist with an M.F.A. in Film and Television Production from UCLA. A Tribeca All Access and American Film Institute Directing Workshop for Women alumna, she creates films through Ubuntu Motion Pictures that educate, inspire dialogue, and advance justice and healing.
ABOUT RANA KAZKAZ
Rana Kazkaz is an award-winning filmmaker and Northwestern University Qatar professor whose work has screened at Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, Tribeca, and Tallinn. A member of the Académie des César, she creates globally recognized Syrian-centered films, including The Translator and Mare Nostrum, and is developing three new international film projects. KazKaz is a producer and story editor for the film.
ABOUT SANDRA EVERS-MANLY AND BHERC
Sandra Evers-Manly is an Emmy Award-winning producer, philanthropist, and civil-rights advocate. She founded BHERC in 1996 to advocate, educate, develop and preserve the history and future of Black images in film and television. Its programs include festivals, filmmaker showcases, scholarships, mentoring and youth career-development opportunities. Evers-Manly is a producer and executive producer of The Foolishness of God.
ABOUT FIFDA
Founded in Paris in 2009, the Festival International des Films de la Diaspora Africaine showcases independent films from Africa and the global African diaspora. Its 16th edition will present 15 films from 13 countries and territories September 4–6, 2026. FIFDA is not affiliated with FIFA, the international football organization.
OPENING-NIGHT INFORMATION
Film: The Foolishness of God: A Forgiveness Journey with Desmond Tutu
Date and time: Friday, September 4, 2026, at 7:00 p.m.
Venue: Cinéma CGR Paris Lilas, Place du Maquis du Vercors, 75020 Paris, France
Program: Screening, discussion with Karen Hayes and Rana Kazkaz, and opening-night cocktail
Festival information and tickets: FIFDA.org
Film information: TutuAndForgivenessFilm.com
MEDIA CONTACT │USA
Lura Ball, Heartsung PR
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PRESS CONTACTS│ INTERNATIONAL
FIFDA: Diarah N’Daw-Spech, Co-Director
Email: FIFDACOM@gmail.com
PH: +33 (0)1 43 15 99 51