Premiering June 15 on BPM’s YouTube channel as part of its AfroPoP Digital Shorts series, R.E.S.T. is the debut film from Broadway veteran Doron JéPaul (To Kill a Mockingbird, The Piano Lesson and Our Town). A lyrical love letter to his father and to fathers everywhere, the film offers a tender, necessary reminder: rest is not a luxury. It is a form of release, renewal and survival.
The title is an acronym for Release, Expect, Surrender and Trust — four short films JéPaul had originally planned before his father’s mental health crisis led him to realize they were part of one larger story. The short is anchored by JéPaul's original song "Why Not," which he wrote and performs.
R.E.S.T. is the latest installment of Black Public Media's AfroPoP Digital Shorts series, an offshoot of its Peabody Award-winning signature series AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange. The nonprofit continues its work despite Congress’s 2025 rescission vote, which ripped $1.8 million from its budget. In response, BPM launched the Black Stories Production Fund to ensure that Black stories are never again subject to political interference or chronic underinvestment.
R.E.S.T. is executive produced by Mike Edmonds and Thermostat Media.
To support BPM’s Black Stories Production Fund, visit: https://secure.everyaction.com/IkFxVSdjX0qpQkceW1r27g2. For more information about BPM, go to blackpublicmedia.org
