Nigerian indie director and filmmaker Martins Samuel, known for The Fisherman and Blue Baby, discusses the central theme behind his upcoming project, Forgive Me April.
Speaking with The Nollywood Reporter, Samuel says he has long been fascinated by the emotional weight people carry in silence, an idea that largely inspired the film.
“This film was born from one question: What happens when guilt becomes your identity? As someone who believes in redemption, I wanted to tell a story that confronts shame and points people toward hope,” he says.
The director, also known for The Boy in the Basement, notes that many people tend to forgive others while struggling to extend the same grace to themselves. “The film asks a difficult question: What if the hardest person you need to forgive is you?”
Samuel explains that Forgive Me April began from personal experience before evolving into a full script. Drawing from his own encounters with grief and loss, he describes the project as part of his personal healing process. He also credits his collaborators for expanding and deepening the story.
“The script started with me, but the film belongs to all of us. Every actor, crew member, and creative partner brought something to the story that made it deeper, richer, and more honest than I could have achieved alone,” he says.
As the film prepares for release, Samuel says he hopes audiences take away a sense of hope alongside its central theme of forgiveness. “Not wishful thinking, but the belief that no mistake is final, no life is beyond redemption, and no story is over until God says it is.”
Forgive Me April stars Brett Varel, Jesse Hutch, Aspen Kenny, Karen Abercrombie, and Shari Rigby. The film, currently in post-production, follows a tragic hit-and-run that disrupts multiple lives, leaving a grieving father, a haunted driver, and a broken community navigating guilt, grief, and the possibility of redemption.
