DAUGHTERS: A Review
by Karen Pecota

Natalie Rae and Angela Patton | USA | 2024

In partnership with the organization Girls For A Change, run by Angela Patton, filmmakers Natalie Rae and Angela Patton, collaborate to showcase a remarkable father-daughter narrative in DAUGHTERS. Rae first heard Patton share the mission of her organization including special programs offered to young Black girls, in a TED talk.

One of the programs dealt with fathers who were incarcerated. Rae was curious as to the impact of fatherhood while dads were imprisoned. The eight-year journey of her research is shared in DAUGHTERS. Proudly the film received both the Festival Favorite Award and the Audience Choice Award in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival 2024.

The filmmakers explain, “The film follows four young girls prepare for a special Daddy DaughterDancewith their incarcerated fathers, as part of a unique fatherhood program in a Washington D.C. jail.” The dads are required to take an intense 12-week course on fatherhood. By the end of the twelve weeks, the film showcases prepared fathers as they step into a life-changing dance with their daughters. Since the program’s twelve-year existence, 95% of those dads who have gone through the program have not go back to prison.

Adding, “For most of the daughters, the dance will be the only time they will be able to touch or hug their fathers during sentences, some of which are as long as twenty years.” Rae and her crew attended one of these dances and followed four very special families through the process. The film portrays the endless possibilities when fathers and daughters are given the tools to help heal their broken hearts, dreams, and relationships.

This is a story comprised of the wishes from the girls themselves who attended Angela Patton’s leadership camp within the organization, Girls For A Change. It began with a dream. The girls in the leadership DIVA program, at the time, desired to have more contact with their fathers and created the first Date with Dad Weekend, as a community-wide Daddy Daughter Dance where girls and their fathers were invited for dinner, dancing, comedy, and fun activities. The event was a success. However, some of the girls in the program felt left out of the experience because their fathers were incarcerated.

A plan to action began and ignited the event A Dance of Their Own.

These girls wrote to a local sheriff and asked if daughters could spend a special afternoon with their incarcerated fathers to enjoy A Dance of Their Own. Former Sheriff C.T. Woody Jr., at Richmond City Justice Center, said “yes,” and the very first Daddy Daughter Dance in jail was born.

Rae and Patton describe, “Designed to take place within a correctional facility, participating fathers dress in semi-formal attire for a date with their daughters, with no physical barriers between them. They enjoy a meal, live comedy, games, a dance, and other activities aimed at father-daughter bonding.”

Continuing, “To prepare for this meaningful event, fathers, mothers/guardians, and daughters participate in community healing circles led by trained facilitators. These sessions build up to a culminating celebration, aimed not just at enhancing the bond between fathers and daughters, but also at strengthening family relationships as a whole, reinforcing the family's unity and resilience.”

Patton states, “There is no denying that a woman’s relationship with her father is one of the most crucial in her life. The quality of that connection—good, damaged, or otherwise—powerfully impacts dads and daughters in a variety of ways. A father’s effect on his daughter’s psychological well-being and identity is far-reaching. A daughter’s sense of self, for instance, is often connected to how her father views her. A girl stands a better chance of becoming a self-confident woman if she has a close bond with her father.”

A festival darling, DAUGHTERS is a story of changed lives of its participants, and the audience alike. The only screening requirements — bring plenty of Kleenex!