The Death of My Two Fathers

After 20 years, Sol Guy finally watches his late father’s tapes and embarks on a personal journey of healing and reconciliation. At once a conversation between past and present and a letter to Sol’s children, THE DEATH OF MY TWO FATHERS reveals the complexities of identity, the persistence of racial trauma, the challenges of fatherhood -- and the liberation that exists in facing our own mortality.

After 20 years, Sol Guy finally watches his late father’s tapes and embarks on a personal journey of healing and reconciliation. At once a conversation between past and present and a letter to Sol’s children, THE DEATH OF MY TWO FATHERS reveals the complexities of identity, the persistence of racial trauma, the challenges of fatherhood -- and the liberation that exists in facing our own mortality.

Meet Sol Guy - filmmaker, father, son and brother. The film, THE DEATH OF MY TWO FATHERS, is a letter to his children, Soleil and Shakur, and his personal journey of healing,. Through home videos and present day, Sol reconciles with the actions of his own father, the choices he made, and the cycle he hopes to break.

The home videos that Sol Guy's father, William, has left behind become the catalyst for his journey to Waterloo, Iowa, the birthplace of his father. Traveling with William's cousin, Uncle Jimmy, is a time to both uncover the roots of the man and understand who his father was.

When a loved one dies, the loss of their presence leaves a gap in the lives of family and friends. In some cases like with Sol Guy, it marks a time of discovery of the person missed and the people missing them - from heritage to identity and the path we walk down in the future.

Reckoning with the past means reconciling our present and future. By exploring his father's life, Sol Guy's eyes were opened to his own choices and the impact it has had on the family around him. Now, the father, brother, and son has the knowledge to break the cycle of following in/repeating his father's footsteps.

William and Sol Guy, father and son, share words of love to their children having experienced fatherhood both different and same. For William, it was at a time near the end. And for Sol, his father's recorded words have guided him as he hopes his do the same for his daughter and son.

Sol Guy opens up about the story for his film, THE DEATH OF MY TWO FATHERS, which was a personal journey to reconciling his past and healing his present. He also tells of the opportunities he's had as a man of mixed race growing up in Canada over America, reveals who and what shaped him as a father, and shares the storytelling advice he has as a filmmaker.

In hindsight, Sol Guy sees how the death of his father, William, has shaped who he is as a father and as a man. It has also brought clarity; instead of running away after his stepfather's ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) diagnosis, Sol went to care for and love Freye in the most challenging of times.