An image from the documentary “Daughters”.
(Sundance Institute)
Executive produced by Kerry Washington, “Daughters” culminates with an emotional dance between father and daughter inside a Washington, DC jail. But its true power, as a portrait of families divided by incarceration and as a call to action on prisoners' rights, lies in what comes before and after. Inside the facility, inmates gather for a 10-week parenting course to participate in the event, which for many will be their only in-person time with family for months or years. Outside, their daughters, from kindergarten to high school, adore their parents, or fear forgetting them, or lash out in frustration at their absence. Then, after the fleeting time the father-daughter duos spent together at the ball, the filmmakers stay there for a year, two years, three, witnessing faltering relationships rebuilt and others tested by harsh sentences, reminding viewers that the consequences of our penal system, including recidivism itself, impact our communities and over time. Arriving at Sundance, the six-year journey of “Daughters” now spans its young protagonists, from preschoolers to tweens, and in doing so underscores the fact that no coda, no matter how distant, can fully bring their stories full circle. . I want to follow these fathers and daughters into the future: an “Up” series about the wounds and healing of prison-era America. —Matt Brennan
