EXCLUSIVE: Daughters – one of the most talked about documentaries of the year – is getting its first trailer ahead of the film’s Netflix debut on August 14. Watch it above.
The feature, directed by Natalie Rae and Angela Patton, centers on a father-daughter dance that takes places behind the walls of a prison in Washington, DC., documenting the bonding and emotional experience for the incarcerated men and their daughters. The film, expected to be a strong Oscar contender, won both the Audience Award for U.S. Documentary at Sundance and the Festival Favorite Award, chosen by Sundance attendees from among all the films at the festival – fiction and nonfiction.
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After premiering at Sundance, Daughters went on to win the Documentary Achievement Award at the Miami Film Festival, Best Documentary Feature at the Bentonville Film Festival in Arkansas, and audience awards at the Full Frame festival in Durham, NC, and Cinetopia Film Festival in Ann Arbor, MI.
Watch on Deadline
“A moving portrait of empathy and forgiveness, Daughters traces an eight-year documentary journey by filmmaker Natalie Rae and social change advocate Angela Patton,” notes a synopsis. “The film intimately follows Aubrey, Santana, Raziah, and Ja’Ana as they prepare for a momentous Daddy Daughter Dance 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.”
The film’s executive producers include author Jessica Seinfeld (wife of Jerry Seinfeld) and actress Kerry Washington.
“This film does such a beautiful job of bridging the idea that fathers need their daughters and daughters need their fathers,” Washington told Deadline at Sundance, “and this unjust system that we call the criminal justice system, that it really separates families and tears them apart and treats these folks as if they’re not human, that they don’t get to touch each other, they don’t get to be in community. And the film is about the need for us to pause these systems and treat each other like humans.”
Aubrey Smith was just 5 years old when she participated in the dance. Now several years older, Smith told Deadline, “When I saw the movie… 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. So, the fact that I got to dance with him, it’s just a memory I’m going to keep forever.”
Watch the trailer for Daughters above.