EXCLUSIVE: Actress Kerry Washington is boarding the Sundance documentary Daughters as an executive producer, joining a roster of EPs that includes fellow actor Joel Edgerton, and author-philanthropist Jessica Seinfeld, wife of comedian Jerry Seinfeld.
The film directed by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae focuses on four young girls as they prepare “for a special Daddy Daughter Dance with their incarcerated fathers, as part of a unique fatherhood program in a Washington, D.C., jail.” Daughters premieres in U.S. Documentary Competition on Monday.
“A moving lesson in empathy and forgiveness, Daughters is a result of an eight-year documentary journey that filmmaker Natalie Rae and Angela Patton, an activist advocating for ‘at-promise’ girls, embarked upon,” notes the Sundance program. “As Aubrey, Santana, Raziah, and Ja’Ana get ready for the special event, they speak candidly about their hopes, dreams, and disappointments. There is an innate wisdom and honesty to what they share about their dads’ inconsistent presence; an awareness far beyond their years.”
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The Sundance program continues, “Daughters meaningfully challenges many stereotypes around incarceration and serves as a poignant reminder that maintaining family bonds can be both healing and empowering. We get to witness a lot of joy, but in keeping with the film’s vérité style, Rae and Patton don’t shy away from more challenging moments, including heartbreak, skepticism, reluctance to engage, and anger. But then comes a classic dad joke, and the mood shifts again.”
Producers of the film are Lisa Mazzotta, Justin Benoliel, Sam Bisbee, Kathryn Everett, Mindy Goldberg, Laura Choi Raycroft, and James Cunningham. In addition to Washington, Edgerton, and Seinfeld, the executive producers include Lydia Kives, Jackie Bisbee, Lance Acord, Harland Weiss, Dom Thomas, J.M. Harper, Morgan Clement, and Hallee Adelman.
Monday’s world premiere will be followed by two additional screenings in Park City, Utah: on January 23 and January 26. A screening will be held on Jan. 25 in Salt Lake City at the Megaplex Theatres at the Gateway.