[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”, Rae said.

Patton said she wanted “to advance opportunities for Black girls and make sure that their voices were elevated.

“I see this as a way for a lot of people who are doing family strengthening work, family bonding work, people that are doing criminal justice work, women who need support because they are raising families alone, it can be a tool for so many purposes,” she said.

To gain the girls’ and their families’ trust, Rae and Patton took time to get to know them.

“There’s no shortcut for that,” said Rae. “It’s just years and months and days of just being around and being part of birthday parties or visits to the hospital and cook outs.”

“Daughters”, which opened at the Sundance Film Festival in January and won the Audience Award: U.S. Documentary and Festival Favorite Award, starts streaming on Netflix on Aug. 14.