“Brother Joseph Again,” a new film coming to select theaters Oct. 9, takes audiences through years of research into one question: What did Joseph Smith really look like?
Daylen Pollard, director of the film, and Patrick Bishop, lead researcher, spoke with BYU-Idaho Radio about the research behind the documentary and how filmmakers worked to bring that investigation to the screen.
The film examines paintings, drawings, historical records, death masks, forensic reconstructions and proposed photographs of Joseph Smith. A major part of the investigation centers on a locket inherited by Daniel Larsen, a great-great grandson of Joseph Smith.
According to Bishop, Larsen inherited a box of Smith family artifacts containing three lockets. One remained stuck shut until Larsen pried it open during the Covid-19 pandemic and discovered a daguerreotype — an early form of photography — inside.
“The research began in 2020 to try and authenticate if this was really Joseph Smith,” Bishop said.
Rather than focusing solely on the photograph, the documentary follows researchers as they examine multiple sources of evidence surrounding Joseph Smith’s appearance. The team also worked with experts across several fields and reconstructed Smith’s face using historical information, including photographs taken when the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum Smith were exhumed in 1928.
Pollard said condensing the research and hundreds of hours of footage into a roughly 90-minute documentary required careful decisions about what evidence audiences needed to see.
“My goal was, so anybody who watches the film at the end, they would say, ‘I have all the evidence placed before me now,’” Pollard said.
Pollard entered the project, already believing Joseph Smith was a prophet, but said the filmmaking process changed the way he personally connected with him. Studying what could be Smith’s actual likeness, he said, felt different from seeing artistic representations.
“There is a difference between an artistic depiction of somebody that may not even be entirely accurate, and looking into real human eyes,” Pollard said.
The film’s title comes from the final line of the hymn “Praise to the Man,” which says, “that millions will know ‘Brother Joseph’ again.”
Bishop said that idea captures what the filmmakers ultimately hope audiences experience, not simply learning what Joseph Smith may have looked like, but gaining a greater understanding of his life, mission and testimony.
Pollard also encourages audiences to see the film regardless of what they currently believe about the proposed photograph.
“Come with your skepticism. I don’t need anyone to come with an open heart nor an open mind, come with your doubts. You could think this is absolutely not Joseph, come with that. Just come as you are and you’ll find a fascinating story,” Pollard said.
“Brother Joseph Again” opens Oct. 9 in select theaters, including the Paramount 5 in Rexburg.
“I would love to hear what questions you had before you see it, what you were wondering, and if you have any questions at the end. Throw those on social media, send us an email, or tag us,” Pollard said.
You can also learn more about the film on its website, brotherjosephagain.com.