What It’s About
Set in the Richmond and D.C. areas, “Daughters” follows a program called “Date With Dad”, where select prison inmates are allowed rare, in-person contact with their daughters at a formal dance. The fathers, including Keith, Mark, and Frank, undergo a ten-week coaching session to prepare for it. Meanwhile, the daughters betray a variety of emotions: five-year-old Aubrey seems bright and hopeful, while Santana (who’s 10) and Ja’Ana (11) have more complicated feelings, about the event and their fathers, who almost feel like strangers.
Why We Love It
Co-director Patton launched the “Date With Dad” program after in-person prison visits were curtailed or even eliminated across the country. Thus this event is a big deal: joyful for some, but also bittersweet if not painful for everyone. This touching, incisive film, five years in the making, covers the before, during, and after, even checking in with attendees several years later to gauge the enduring impact of “Date With Dad”. Overall, “Daughters” yields a hopeful result, one that will inspire you to hug your own kids.