‘Daughters’ Directors On Their Oscar-Contending Documentary About A Daddy-Daughter Dance Behind Bars: “It’s A Love Story”

deadline.com:

As Oscar documentary branch voters mark their shortlist ballots, one of the features they’re considering is the award-winning Netflix film Daughters, a cinematic experience that has deeply touched audiences since its debut at Sundance.

The film directed by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae tells the story of a daddy-daughter dance where incarcerated men in the Washington, DC area get the all too rare chance to interact with their daughters in a loving and healing moment. “It was the idea of a 12-year-old girl who wanted to connect with her father,” Rae told us at Sundance. “It’s just a very powerful story about family connection.” One of the young daughters who participated in the film, Aubrey Smith, came to Sundance for the world premiere. “When I saw the documentary, and I looked at the dance, I realized how much it really meant to me that I got to touch my father and see him because now I don’t really see him often since he’s far away,” she said. “The fact that I got to dance with him, it’s just a memory I’m going to keep forever.” Co-director Patton is the founder of Camp Diva Leadership Academy and CEO of Girls For a Change.

Through her activism she learned of the profound need of girls like Aubrey to stay emotionally and physically connected to their fathers serving prison sentences. “The girls and their families shared with us specifically that girls and dads, they need to touch each other,” Patton told us at the recent International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, where she and fellow director Rae came to support the film. “While serving time, what does it look like to still keep connection, still be able to parent from the inside out?” Amsterdam was the latest stop on a world tour that has taken Daughters to Hot