[Source: Reuters] “Daughters”, a documentary about young girls and their incarcerated fathers, is both a healing tool for its subjects and a change-maker for communities, its directors say. The feature film follows four young Black girls; Aubrey, Santana, Razia and Ja’Ana, as they prepare for and participate in a father-daughter dance behind bars. The dance takes place in a Washington D.
C., jail, part of an initiative launched in Richmond, Virginia, by Angela Patton, founder of the Camp Diva Leadership Academy and CEO of Girls for a Change, which are both non-profit youth development groups. Co-directed by Patton and Natalie Rae, “Daughters” delves into the girls’ emotions as they get ready to see their fathers in person, some for the first time in years.
To take part in the dance, the fathers have to join a 12-week programme that includes group therapy sessions. They are given formal clothing to wear instead of their prison uniforms. The girls wear carefully chosen dresses for the dance, held in the prison gym.
The father-daughter duos are announced as they walk in, applauded by other participants seated around tables decorated with flowers and candles. During the dance, some hug and hold hands, while others appear more distant. As they filmed what they thought would be the climax of their film, the emotion-laden dance, Rae and Patton realised they had to keep the cameras rolling.
Filming the girls for three more years resulted in “more of a coming of age film�.