Interview by Paul Salfen
Watch on www.netflix.com/daughters
A moving portrait of empathy and forgiveness, DAUGHTERS traces an eight-year documentary journey by filmmaker Natalie Rae and social change advocate Angela Patton. The film intimately follows Aubrey, Santana, Raziah, and Ja’Ana as they prepare for a momentous Daddy DaughterDance with their incarcerated fathers. Speaking openly about their aspirations, dreams, and the emotional toll of their fathers’ absence, compounded by the constraints of virtual visits, these girls reveal a profound wisdom and resilience beyond their years. As they navigate heartbreak, anger, and uncertainty, they seize a precious opportunity to forge connections. DAUGHTERS sheds light on the complexities of familial bonds strained by the unforgiving barriers of the criminal justice system and emphasizes that the foundation of community healing lies within the family unit.
DIRECTORS STATEMENT
Our film is both personal and universal. It’s an intimate story of four daughters and four fathers, and it’s also a paradigm-shifting look into the long and devastating legacy of the prison-industrial complex on Black communities, and most importantly the ingenuity of Black girls who fight back against it. America has been reckoning with the carceral wound at the center of our country for the last few years. This film narrows the aperture to an immediate suffering: too many families, including children, bear the brunt of their loved ones’ incarceration. They are cut off — stuck behind Plexiglass and struggling to afford costly video calls. Through music, touch and movement, the dance tackles all senses and creates a memory that impacts trauma.
The film celebrates and encourages us to listen to the ideas of young women and realize the power they have to bring meaningful change in the world. Our collaboration and vision has always centered on the wisdom of the girls. We worked together to ensure that we told the most imaginative, dignifying story possible. Following the fathers’ journey through fatherhood circles in the jail, we aim to humanize these Black men. On the outside, we allow the girl’s worlds to be vivid, complex and raw. These are the sides of Black characters that we don’t often see on screen, and that we desperately need to see more of.
We wanted the making of the film to mirror the future world we are trying to create with it — one where Black girls have agency, not only over their own lives and relationships, but over their subjectivity. In this way, the film is an experiment in making sure that Black girls have a vitalizing say in shaping their own portrayal, in a world that too often doesn’t see them at all, or does so only with a pitying or vilifying lens. We worked with the girls to create their own magic realism sequences that helped to illustrate their dreams, nightmares and personalities. The girls take us through their challenging circumstances with tenderness and light. They inspire us to look at family wounds and the transformative power of human touch.
This is not a sad story. This is a love story. It is a healing story about the ways in which those experiencing the worst of our country’s broken systems often have the best of ideas for how to stay human within them until revolution comes.
ABOUT
Natalie Rae, Co-Director, Producer
Natalie Rae is an award-winning director devoting much of her career to women’s rights. Her work has been commissioned by the U.N. and Gates Foundation. She is the recipient of two Cannes Young Lions nominations. Working with artists such as Leon Bridges, H.E.R., Anderson Paak, Rae brings a distinct style and effervescent energy to music videos, commercials, and now her first feature documentary.
Angela Patton, Co-Director, Executive Producer
Angela Patton, CEO of Girls For A Change, is committed to advancing opportunities for Black girls. Her TEDWomen talk garnered over one million views and inspired the making of Daughters. As a speaker, author, and co-director, Patton is dedicated to celebrating and sharing the multifaceted experiences of Black girls.
